There was a rather surprising moment during last night’s win over Monza as Tiemoue Bakayoko made his return to the field after nearly a year of absence.
La Gazzetta dello Sport recalls how Bakayoko had not played for almost a year – 279 days to be exact – and in January he was very close to joining Adana Demispor. However, the Frenchman came on for the final few minutes against Monza
The midfielder hadn’t played since Milan’s 2-0 win against Atalanta on May 15, the penultimate day of the season when Theo Hernandez scored that incredible solo goal, so it was certainly surprising to see Stefano Pioli call him off the bench.
It seemed that the Chelsea loanee was firmly out of the plans as he had not made a competitive appearance all season, with only two starts in the entirety of 2022. Bakayoko looked set to join Vincenzo Montella’s Adana in Turkey but the deal fell apart.
He is currently still on loan from the Blues but will return to London in June. Meanwhile, Pioli gave him a ten minutes against Monza and Bakayoko responded well, even sweeping a ball from the Milan box in the final minutes.
Yes keep play someone who is definitely leaving and keep Adli on the bench to get no game time and experience. Very good indeed.
Oli, we all know wy he is not playing. Milan have an obligation to buy Tiemoué Bakayoko at the end of the season if he gets at least 15 appearances this seazon and Milan doesn’t want(have money) to buy him.
Agreed. We don’t want to pick up the option. However with our new formation I think he would actually be useful paired with Tonali who needs someone beside him to do the dirty work – like Frank used to. Tonali likes to push forward and doesn’t like to sit in front of the defense like Kessie did. Baka can do that. You could also play a Baka/Tonali with Benny more of an attacking mid instead of Diaz/CDK who struggle. Just an option. Would love to see Aster play instead of Baka but he doesn’t seem to have the trust of Pioli despite the promise he shows when on the pitch.
Juro, no.
1) Baka costs 3-5 – 4m per year.
2) When Bennacer returns, he won’t play again.
3) Milan will likely sign another midfielder. They know they didn’t replace Kessie. It was supposed to be Renato, but he switched to PSG at last minute.
4) If we sign Baka, it’s a 15-20m for a sub par player no one wants. and with that money spent, we won’t sign another midfielder.
So no thanks from every angle.
4)
I am NOT advocating to sign Baka in any way shape or form LOL. What I was saying was Tonali needs to play next to a similar type of player who does the dirty work. Right now that player is Krunic. I hope Aster is given that opportunity as well – but it doesn’t look like Pioli trusts him. So Baka may prove useful for the last half of the season. Because Tonali needs such a player beside him. But NO we should NOT sign/pick up his option under any condition lol. In light of Diaz/CDK struggles, I would play Benny in their role as he plays there for his national team. That is all I was saying brother.
or just play Kjaer/Gabbia then move Thiaw to DM, he’s fast phisical aerialy good & is his natural pos