Chelsea’s Tiemoue Bakayoko: Better than believed, worse than advertised

Tiemoue Bakayoko will be on the hunt for a new club after Monaco failed to afford him. Chelsea knows he is better than believed but worse than advertised.

When Tiemoue Bakayoko signed for Chelsea, it felt like a steal. He was one of the driving forces of Monaco’s title win and deep Champions League run and he seemed perfect for Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3 or even a potential 3-5-2.

Initially, against Tottenham early in the season as he came off of injury, Bakayoko seemed as amazing as everyone wanted to believe. He bullied Spurs in that match. Unfortunately, that injury never really went away and his form dropped more and more over time. By the end of the season and the managerial change, Bakayoko was lambasted by the Chelsea fans as a flop.

The truth is that Bakayoko is better than that. The truth is also that he is worse than advertised. That is a lesson both for the club and the player as they look to find the Frenchman a new club and look for new signings in the future.

First of all is the notion of “one season wonder”. Fans desperately fall into this trap time and time again. A young player hits it big suddenly and then everyone wants a piece of them. Often times, no move occurs and the player fades into obscurity in their second season as the next fad player comes about.

Bakayoko very much falls into that category. While he had played for Monaco before, it was not until their title winning season that he truly became a main part of the squad. His form took a massive turn around which is part of what propelled the club to the final. But he could not finish the season due to injury and that is where Chelsea picked him up.

It is always a risk to buy a player on one season’s worth of form. It is even more so when they have had a long term injury. Chelsea pushed on, perhaps because they knew how close Manchester United was to buying him, and it cost them. Bakayoko of 2017/2018 was not the same Bakayoko as 2016/2017.

When Maurizio Sarri arrived, it was clear he was not in the Italian’s plans. He was loaned out to AC Milan where his old habits reared their head once more. But after a terrible start, he did rebound to become a major player for the Italian side. But despite that, Milan was not interested in activating the buy clause attached to his loan.

Frank Lampard briefly gave him a look in preseason before he was shipped off on loan to where it all began: AS Monaco. Again a buy clause was attached but again it proved difficult to recapture lighting in a bottle. Bakayoko has not been bad, but he has not been good enough for Monaco to bite at the price tag.

Which brings things up to the current day. Bakayoko will return to the Blues and Lampard will likely at least give him the courtesy of a look. But Bakayoko, despite not being as bad as believed from the 2017/2018 season, is also not as good as once advertised. Milan found him a solid player but not solid enough to buy. Now Monaco has as well despite their history with him.

Sevilla is leading the race at the moment, but they are not pushing particularly hard. Bakayoko was a player that rose to fast to a level he was not truly comfortable at and now he and clubs are still trying to figure out exactly where he belongs.