Chelsea confirm 28-year-old’s departure as club confirms released list

Tiemoue Bakayoko will leave Chelsea this summer as the players released list is out

Chelsea have confirmed that French midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko will be one of the 13 players leaving the club this summer as the release list is out.

After three good years at AS Monaco, Bakayoko signed for Chelsea in the summer of 2017. Antonio Conte was the manager of the team and they had won the Premier League a few weeks before the player arrived.

Although the 28-year-old struggled for consistency in his performances during the first season at Stamford Bridge, he managed to make 43 appearances in all competitions. Chelsea lifted the FA Cup at the end of that campaign.

But, since the summer of 2018, the Frenchman has had spells at a number of clubs, including going back to Monaco for a season. He had two loan spells at AC Milan and one at Napoli.

If we look at the appearance count at those clubs, Bakayoko made 63 appearances in three seasons at Milan. He amassed a total of just over 3900 minutes in that time – an average of not even 1500 minutes per season (Transfermarkt).

Similarly, when he went back to Monaco for the 2019/20 season, the 28-year-old made 23 appearances in all competitions, clocking close to 2000 minutes (Transfermarkt).

These are not great numbers from a player who was a star at Monaco before signing for Chelsea six years ago. He was that box-to-box midfield monster who could do it all. He was one of the reasons why the French side won the league title in 2017 and reached the semi-final of the Champions League.

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Although all seems lost after his confirmed departure from Chelsea, Bakayoko is still 28 years old. If he wants, there is still a late surge awaiting him. Football and sport give you a second chance. Will the Frenchman grab that or put in his 100% to get close to that? We wait and see about that.