AC Milan ‘take note’ as Chelsea offer Tiémoué Bakayoko — report

Tiémoué Bakayoko is back in his annual summertime limbo, trying to figure out his next move, where the only constant is that he’s not staying with Chelsea. Ideally, this is the last time we have to do this, since he has only one year left on the five-year contract he signed in 2017 when he arrived for a large fee and plenty of hype and expectation.

He may have never lived up to those lofty expectations at Chelsea, but he’s continued to show glimpses of quality, though never quite consistently enough to inspired any of his loan teams to turn his temporary stay into a more permanent arrangement. That was true at Napoli this past season, AS Monaco the season before, and AC Milan the season before that. That’s over 100 appearances combined, but still with plenty of questions.

The 26-year-old was linked with Fiorentina earlier this summer, after his former coach at Milan and Napoli, Gennaro Gattuso took over, but Gattuso left after less than a month in charge (and then his Spurs move fell through, too, hilariously).

The latest possibility then is back with AC Milan, though they’re not biting, at least not yet. CalcioMercato’s claiming that Chelsea offered Bakayoko to Milan at €15-20m, but, unsurprisingly, they do not “intend to invest” that kind of sum in this case. They have “taken note” however, so perhaps we can revisit the situation later for maybe something less?

Another loan is not a possibility with just one year left on his contract, so Chelsea will have to keep hoping to find a willing taker.