AC Milan looking to cut short Tiémoué Bakayoko’s two-year loan, send him back to Chelsea at end of season — report

Tiémoué Bakayoko returned to AC Milan on loan in the summer, having found some measure of success there a few years prior, and because it was a two-year loan this time around, there was hope that he would eventually be able to join them permanently as well by way of the conditional €15m buy-obligation in the second year.

(The condition is reportedly 15 appearances of at least 45 minutes each in 2022-23. Cue the “our expectations for you were low but holy [FUN]” meme.)

Unfortunately, things have turned out in the exact opposite way already. The 27-year-old has made just 17 appearances this season, only 5 of which have been starts, and zero of which have come since January 17. He’s sat on the bench ever since, and it doesn’t look like he’s about to get up anytime soon.

And growing rumors over the past month or so that Milan are in fact looking to cut short his two-year loan this summer have now started to become quite noisy indeed — especially with new owners coming in at the San Siro, and looking to clean house. Bakayoko has once again failed to impress and they don’t think that will change in the future.

Because we have yet to make peace with simply cutting our own losses in this case, Bakayoko does also have two years left on his Chelsea contract as well. It’s been a sad career for him after so much initial promise.