Bakayoko delaying AS Monaco decision, hoping for Champions League football — report

According to French newspaper L’Equipe (via Sport Witness), Chelsea midfielder Tiémoué Bakayoko is taking his time in deciding the next step in his career, and specifically, whether he’d be willing to return to AS Monaco for the season. Chelsea had signed Bakayoko from the Principality two years ago for a cool €40m, but it’s safe to say that we’ve yet to collect any returns on that investment.

Bakayoko, who spent the last season on loan at AC Milan, has been subject of interest from various clubs throughout summer. However, the two likeliest possibilities, Paris Saint-Germain and Everton, both opted for other options — Idrissa Gueye and Jean-Philippe Gbamin, respectively — instead.

Monaco were next to register interest, but Bakayoko apparently wants to play in the Champions League and is hoping that he will receive an offer to do so before the end of the transfer window on September 2.

Meanwhile, he probably should hope that Monaco, if they are truly interested, simply do not run out of patience. After all, he’s already been snubbed twice just in the last month, and a third really would not be that much of a surprise. Chelsea could conceivably accommodate him in the squad (we have room to register him as non-homegrown in the Premier League), but based on the first two games of the season, he’s nowhere near the first-team squad at the moment (unlike Kenedy or Michy Batshuayi, both of whom have made bench appearances).