Reports: Chelsea midfielder top target for Serie A giants
What's the rumour?
AC Milan are sticking to their guns and hoping to sign some top talent this summer to get at least a whiff of their glorious past. As per Gianluca Di Marzio, Gennaro Gattuso wants reinforcements in midfield and hence the club wants to put Bakayoko out of his Premier League misery by throwing him a rope.
In case you didn't know...
Tiemoue Bakayoko showed up at Chelsea amidst huge fanfare. The fans hoped that he will be an upgrade on Nemanja Matic who departed to Manchester United but Bakayoko had a horror debut season at Stamford Bridge.
AC Milan, who won an appeal to stay in the UEFA Europa League, are looking to bolster their squad.
The heart of the matter
The report states that Tiemoue Bakayoko is being considered alongside Diadie Samassekou of Red Bull Salzburg. The latter is expected to lead the charge in midfield for Il Rossoneri.
Chelsea paid £40 million last summer to secure Tiemoue Bakayoko's services from AS Monaco. The midfielder had a stellar campaign in France and was one of Monaco's star performers as they went about slaying the big ones in Europe and lifted the Ligue 1 title ahead of Paris Saint-Germain.
However, Bakayoko has failed to light up Stamford Bridge with the fans jeering him on occasion for putting in miserable performances one after the other. As a result, he struggled to make it to the starting XI for the majority of the season.
This summer, Chelsea have gone on to buy Jorginho and this has now further reduced Bakayoko's chances of making it back to the starting lineup.
Maurizio Sarri wants to bring some reinforcements before the transfer window closes and he might just use Bakayoko's sale as an opportunity to generate funds.
Rumour rating/probability: 7/10
Gianluca Di Marzio is a pretty solid source for Italian transfer rumours and given the circumstances at Stamford Bridge, this looks like a deal that might materialize in the next couple of weeks.
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What's next?
With the arrival of Jorginho and with Drinkwater, Fabregas, Loftus-Cheek, Kante and Barkley, all contesting for midfield positions, Chelsea could very well offload Bakayoko. But ideally, the player would want to stay and prove his mettle at Stamford Bridge.