AC Milan are set to hold talks with Chelsea loanee Tiemoue Bakayoko in the coming days to discuss his future at the club, according to reports.
The Frenchman spent last season on loan at the recently crowned Serie A Champions, making 18 appearances in all competitions in midfield.
He originally signed for the Blues in the summer of 2017 from AS Monaco, with the French outfit coming off the back of their highly impressive campaign, having won the Ligue 1 title and reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League.
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However Bakayoko spent just one season at Stamford Bridge before being loaned out to Milan during the 2018/19 campaign.
According to Sky Italia, the Italian giants will be holding talks with the midfielder’s agents in the coming days to discuss his future.
There is a belief that the 27-year-old will depart Milan this summer even though he is only halfway through his spell at the club, with the Frenchman signing on a two-year loan deal last summer.
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He will return to Chelsea for pre-season but is also expected to depart west London in the transfer window, with his new club yet to be seen.
Milan do not have him in their plans for the new campaign and will therefore not exercise their option to buy that was included in the deal.
Bakayoko has now completed his second season on loan at the club across two different spells.
His first period in Milan saw him make 42 appearances across all competitions, a lot more game time than the campaign just gone.
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He returned to Monaco in the 2019/20 season on a loan deal before joining Napoli the following year, with the midfielder then re-signing for Milan on his two-year deal at the start of last season.
Although his future is far from certain this summer, there is belief that he could be reunited with Gennaro Gattuso, who was recently appointed as the new Valencia boss in La Liga.
The pair spent time together in Milan and Naples, and Gattuso is said to have ‘reactivated’ contacts with Bakayoko in the hopes of signing him at the club this summer.
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He is reported to be one of the first names on the manager’s list of targets at his new side, who is keen to bring in some of his former players.
Should he leave Chelsea this window on a temporary transfer rather than a permanent deal, it would be Bakayoko’s fifth loan spell away from the Blues since he joined five years ago.
Topics: Chelsea, Chelsea Transfer News & Rumours, AC Milan, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Football
Robert Calcutt