5 things you should know about Chelsea target Tiemoue Bakayoko
Chelsea are hot on the heels of Monaco midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko, who played an important role as the principality side shocked Paris Saint-Germain to win Ligue 1.
The 22-year-old has earned a great deal of acclaim over the course of the last year, including a first international cap for France, but life hasn’t always been so easy for a player now considered one of the great powerhouses of Ligue 1. Indeed, growing up in central Paris was not easy for him, but it has helped to develop him into such a force that he is deemed worthy of the Premier League champions.
Antonio Conte’s men are closing in on a move, and with this in mind, here are five facts to get to know the player better:
#1 He wasn’t an easy child
Bakayoko admits that he wasn’t an easy child to look after and, though he was born in Paris, during his time at the Clairefontaine academy he was forced to live in the school due to his tendency for misbehaviour.
Looking back on it in an interview with Le Parisien, the midfielder believes it was important for him.
“I wasn’t an easy kid, I probably had a little too much attitude,” he admitted. “But going to Clairefontaine might have stopped me going off the rails. It was a bad thing to achieve a good one.”
He had a habit of leaving his house at 10 pm to go out and play football with his big brother, Soualio, who plays in the second tier with Paris FC, saying nothing to his parents. They would play with older kids and snuck home at midnight.
“I was repeatedly punished by my dad, but I don’t regret it today,” he smiled.