Chelsea are hot on the heels of Monaco midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko, who played an important role as the principality side shocked Paris Saint-Germain to win Ligue 1.
The 22-year-old has earned a great deal of acclaim over the course of the last year, including a first international cap for France, but life hasn’t always been so easy for a player now considered one of the great powerhouses of Ligue 1. Indeed, growing up in central Paris was not easy for him, but it has helped to develop him into such a force that he is deemed worthy of the Premier League champions.
Antonio Conte’s men are closing in on a move, and with this in mind, here are five facts to get to know the player better:
#1 He wasn’t an easy child
Bakayoko admits that he wasn’t an easy child to look after and, though he was born in Paris, during his time at the Clairefontaine academy he was forced to live in the school due to his tendency for misbehaviour.
Looking back on it in an interview with Le Parisien, the midfielder believes it was important for him.
“I wasn’t an easy kid, I probably had a little too much attitude,” he admitted. “But going to Clairefontaine might have stopped me going off the rails. It was a bad thing to achieve a good one.”
He had a habit of leaving his house at 10 pm to go out and play football with his big brother, Soualio, who plays in the second tier with Paris FC, saying nothing to his parents. They would play with older kids and snuck home at midnight.
“I was repeatedly punished by my dad, but I don’t regret it today,” he smiled.
#2 Wears the No.14 shirt for a particular reason
Bakayoko has elected to take the No.14 shirt in tribute to the area of Paris in which he grew up. In the centre of the city, each area is given a designated number, and his was the 14th. Growing up in that neighbourhood is evidently something that has given him a great deal of pride.
“It’s a fair return for everything that it gave me,” he said. “Going onto the field thinking about my neighbourhood gives me strength. It was there I created myself as an individual.”
Indeed, go into that area of the city and you will see many youngsters wearing Bakayoko’s Monaco shirt – testimony to the presence he still has around the area and unusual when they are PSG’s main Ligue 1 rivals at the moment.
“It’s rewarding!” the player explained. “Wearing your shirt gives you responsibilities. Little kids look at you. You have an obligation to behave impeccably.”
#3 Life under Leonardo Jardim did not get off to a good start
Bakayoko’s debut for Monaco was also Leonardo Jardim’s first match in charge back in August 2014 – and it did not get off to a perfect start for either of them. Indeed, so displeased was the Portuguese coach with his midfielder’s performance that he was replaced after only 30 minutes in a 2-1 home defeat.
It set the tone for a couple of difficult seasons at Stade Louis II for the central midfielder, who had moved to the club from Rennes for €8 million.
Last summer, however, he started to work with a physical coach and a sports psychologist. Problems in the player’s preparation have been ironed out, both in terms of his gameplay and personal life, and alongside Fabinho, with whom he has struck up an impressive bond, he has thrived.
#4 PSG remain a club he’d love to play for
Although England seems to be the player’s likely destination this summer, there is no doubt that Bakayoko would love to turn out one day for his hometown club. It is something that he has freely admitted in the past.
“I was born and spent all my youth in Paris. If the opportunity presented itself, I would not turn down PSG,” he admitted.
Ironically, though, he had the chance to sign up to PSG’s youth academy as an 11-year-old but was told to move instead to Brittany.
“I played a trial at an international tournament in Nimes and we faced Arsenal,” he explained. “The opportunity to sign for the academy at PSG came afterwards. But my dad and brother chose Rennes, the best youth centre at the time. It hurt me – I even had tears in my eyes.”
#5 He loves his Ivorian ancestry
Back in March, Bakayoko made his international debut for France against Spain in a friendly on March 28 earlier this year. It was an opportunity that the player leapt at, despite the Ivory Coast trying to persuade him for several years to play for the country of his parents.
But Bakayoko does not see that as a slight on the African nation. “You can love two countries, it’s part of my story,” he admitted.
There is still an outside possibility that he could represent the Ivory Coast, as Didier Deschamps has not used him in a competitive match, which means he, therefore, has the right to change his allegiance.
Given that he has openly said he wants to play at World Cup 2018, it is not impossible.
