Tiemoue Bakayoko Set to Return to Chelsea as Milan Refuse to Meet Valuation

20 May 2019 18:40

Tiemoue Bakayoko looks set to return to Chelsea due to loan club Milan's unwillingness to pay £35m to sign the central midfielder on a permanent deal.

Chelsea signed the highly rated Frenchman for around £40m from Monaco in 2017, but his failure to adapt to the Premier League saw him shipped off to San Siro for the 2018/19 campaign.

Since then, after a bright start, he has struggled for consistent form with disciplinary problems marring his time in Italy.

Ivan Gennaro Gattuso

According to ​Calciomercato, the 24-year-old's breakdown in relationship with manager Gennaro Gattuso and failure to hit top form has left Milan thinking twice about making his loan a permanent move.

It now looks almost certain that ​Milan will not be keeping hold of him any longer than they have to, but given how Chelsea are willing to make a £5m loss on the player, it doesn't appear that they are desperate to keep him either.

This leaves the London club in the precarious position of having to find a suitable buyer for Bakayoko, who is willing to pay £35m for the player. ​Newcastle have previously been linked but seem unlikely to fork out the money required.

FBL-EUR-C3-CHELSEA-TRAINING

With an impending transfer ban, Maurizio Sarri may yet decide to reintegrate the player into teh Blues' first-team squad next season. However, it seems more likely that ​Chelsea will instead try to find a buyer for the midfielder and receive an extra bit of cash in preparation for next season.

Source: 90min