Chelsea summer acquisition Tiemoue Bakayoko needs no introduction now. His performances so far for the Blues have earned him contrasting reviews. While the fans are now aware of his style of play, there remains some unknown quantity about the player you need to know about. Let not waste more time and bulge into it.
Bakayoko was born in Paris to the Ivorian parents and had a tough time growing up. The Frenchman donned a number 14 shirt at Monaco and continued the same number at Chelsea as a tribute to the area he grew up in Paris; the 14th arrondissement of Paris
There's a reason behind his Jersey number
Since the midfielder was born and raised in Paris, his love for the city is evident. And he has already admitted that should an opportunity comes knocking on his doors from the club, he wouldn’t turn it down. “I was born and spent all my youth in Paris. If the opportunity presented itself, I would not turn down PSG,” he admitted.
He also admitted that he had a chance to sign for PSG’s youth team long ago, but his father and brother told him to join Rennes instead. “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.”
Love for PSG
The midfielder, in an interview, revealed that he was a tough child to look after. During his time with the Clairefontaine academy, he was forced to live in the school itself due to his bad behaviour. “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 also admitted that he would leave the house at 10 at night to play football with his brother with the elder kids. “I was repeatedly punished by my dad, but I don’t regret it today,” he smiled.
Difficult Childhood
Bakayoko’s life with AS Monaco started on a low, as he performed awfully on his debut against Lorient. Jardim eventually ran out of patience and decided to take him off after just 32 minutes. Since then, reports of a potential lack of trust between the two erupted.
The new season, 2015-16, started on a similar note for Bakayoko but his life took a U-turn as soon as Claude Makelele arrived at Monaco. The former Chelsea man not only helped him in building himself on the field, he taught him some important life lessons and the result was phenomenal to say the least. The midfielder decided to start boxing lessons and moved from a luxury villa to a regular apartment and even changed the colour of his car from pink to black.
And by the time, he was back in the squad and became an irreplaceable quantity.
Influence of Makelele
Bakayoko has an ancestry of Ivory Coast and was even approached by the Les elephants before he eventually decided to represent France back in March.
Chance of representing Ivory Coast
