Chelsea FC midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko was brought over from Monaco this summer in a transfer deal that certainly had a lot of interesting plot twists and turns. Bakayoko himself acted in a very bizarre fashion on social media about it, but hey, we all did questionable things in our youth, right?
The Frenchman has since settled in quite nicely at Chelsea, featuring in every Premier League contest but one, and starting eight.
The opportunities have arisen largely due to the hamstring injury to N’Golo Kante, his teammate for both club and country. Kante is not with France this international break, as he focuses on full 100% recovery. Most football observers would believe that Kante, the reigning PFA Player of the Year, is a much better player than Bakayoko, but the former Monaco man doesn’t see it that way.
Bakayoko, lashing out over his perceived snub from the France national team this international break, gave a rant to Canal+, in which he maintains that he’s on the same level as his teammate for both Les Bleus and the Blues. He didn’t stop there. Bakayoko believes that no one currently on the France midfield roster for their friendlies against Wales and Germany is superior to him.
“I think [Adrien] Rabiot, Kante, [Blaise] Matuidi, Tolisso aren’t better than me,I respect the coach’s choices and I also respect the players selected. They’re talented, they’re friends,” Bakayoko said.
“I’m proud they’ve been called up, I’d like to be with them, but I don’t think I’m any less than them.”
“I’m disappointed. I believe in this World Cup [next summer], it remains a goal. I’m playing for a big club, I think that can work in my favor.”
This isn’t of course the best way to go about trying to get yourself in the national side. Bakayoko definitely didn’t win over any detractors or make new friends with these remarks.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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