An injury has kept Tiemoue Bakayako out of pre-season. If he returns to fitness and repeats last season’s achievements, Chelsea will have one of the game’s best defensive midfielders.
In 2016, Chelsea legend (and legend of the game) Claude Makelele joined Monaco’s staff. He helped turn a player with unfulfilled potential into one of the hottest products in the game within one season. Tiemoue Bakayoko exploded onto the scene along with his fellow youth hotshots at Monaco and it earned him plaudits and a transfer to Chelsea.
How Bakayoko responds to missing preseason and getting fit will play a major role in his upcoming season. His first start will not be until a cup game. If he fails to impress there he could see himself stuck on the bench for the big fixtures. That would do little to alleviate fears that last season was the season of his life, and that his form prior to then is his norm.
But if he does perform well, Chelsea will have a cheat code for impossibly difficult midfields.. They will provide such a safety net that Antonio Conte can get extremely creative with the attackers in front of them. That partnership, if fruitful, has the potential to last for upwards of five years before either starts to slow down.
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Tiemoue Bakayoko’s inclusion could also offer several interesting tactical possibilities for Chelsea. If Conte uses him similar to how he used Nemanja Matic, then Bakayoko will play in the big games, and he and Kante will rotate little. If Conte comes to trust Bakayoko enough, he may start experimenting with the players around the Frenchman to get the best out of the squad.
He could simply pair with Kante in a 3-4-3. Conte could also use him and Kante to shield a third midfielder – such as Cesc Fabregas or even Eden Hazard – in a 3-5-2. Or he could allow the wild card option: Conte’s supposedly preferred 4-2-4 formation. The biggest issue will be the depth behind Bakayoko, not the player himself.
Like Eden Hazard, Tiemoue Bakayoko will miss the start of the season through injury. Unlike Hazard, however, Bakayoko also has to get used to Conte’s tactics and system before he can play. How quickly Bakayoko pushes himself into the conversation will be an interesting sidenote to his season.
A slow start will only give rivals fodder to use against him. If that is the case he will have to silence the voices to reach his potential.
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Finally, an interesting thing to look for will be how his national team employs him. If Tiemoue Bakayoko becomes a starter with Chelsea alongside Kante, French national team manager Didier Deschamps could shape his squad around their pairing. These extra reps together will only aid Chelsea as the two Frenchmen form an increasingly strong bond.