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.
