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Tiémoué Bakayoko 

Position: Defensive Midfielder 

Age: 27 (born August 17, 1994) 

Shirt number: 41 

Country: France (0 goals in 1 cap in 2017) 

At AC Milan since: 2021 (second loan stint from Chelsea) 

For Tiémoué Bakayoko, finding your form back will be a hard task, but he hopes that his previous experiences will get him to recover his magic touch. 

Born in Paris, he began his career with several academy clubs, before Stade Rennais picked him up in 2008, moving up the ladder as he made 16 appearances in their reserve side before making his first team debut in 2013. 

He only spent a season in Brittany as he scored once in 24 league matches, and was an unused substitute in their Coupe De France final defeat to Guingamp. 

He then moved south to AS Monaco in 2014 and was criticized by his behavior on his first two seasons in the principality that contributed to his loss of form. But it was in 2016 that he regained his place in the squad, owing to a lifestyle change. 

Being the engine of Leonardo Jardim’s midfield, he teamed up with the likes of Joao Moutinho, Fabinho and Bernardo Silva to supply the balls to Kylian Mbappe and Radamel Falcao as they took Europe by storm, winning the Ligue 1 over favorites PSG and reached the semifinal of the Champions League in 2017. 

Soon afterwards, he signed with Chelsea, but found his confidence wanting despite winning the FA Cup in 2018. From then on, he moved to Milan for his first loan spell, but the same problems have persisted despite playing 31 Serie A matches. 

His return to Monaco and subsequently moving to Napoli, both on loan, did little to get back his mojo in the next two seasons. 

Much has been the same in his second loan spell with the Rossoneri, as he failed to find the net in 18 appearances in all competitions, the first time since his debut season with Monaco. Nevertheless, he picked up a Scudetto for his first league title in five years.