Drogba influence is taking his Chelsea Baka to the future
ARSENAL must have reckoned they had seen the last of Didier Drogba. The Ivorian striker, who used to bully their defenders mercilessly, had a remarkable record against Chelsea’s London rivals, with 13 goals in 15 games.
But today at Stamford Bridge, Arsenal will run into Drogba’s influence again in the form of Tiemoue Bakayoko. The midfielder, who impressed Europe last season as the enforcer and pivot in a Monaco team that swept aside Tottenham and Manchester City, has family from Ivory Coast. And the Drogba factor is one of the reasons he has joined Chelsea.
Bakayoko was born in Paris but only last month finally committed to playing for France over Ivory Coast. Growing up, he followed the Premier League club for which the Ivorian legend Drogba played.
‘Chelsea has always been a club I liked since I was young, especially because of guys like Didier Drogba being here,’ said Bakayoko, who scored his first goal for Chelsea against Qarabag on Tuesday.
‘I would make a point of watching their games and I had this club close to my heart growing up, so I’m really happy to be wearing their shirt. I made the choice to come to Chelsea a lot because of the coach and after speaking to him. And I spoke to the people around me and my family. It seemed like the best opportunity.’
Bakayoko is a child of Paris suburbs, specifically the 14th arrondissement, near Orly airport. He wears the No 14 in honour of his roots and talks fondly of his five brothers and sisters and his memories growing up there as a Paris Saint-Germain fan.
But he rejected PSG because he felt his chances would be better at Rennes as a teenager. He also had to overcome the disappointment of rejection by the French national football centre at Clairefontaine, which he puts down to the fact that he played the fool at school.
Once, you might have assumed Bakayoko was the kind of player Arsenal would have been all over. Not only is he French, and the kind of holding midfielder they always seem to lack, he comes from Wenger’s former club, Monaco.
‘Wenger is a legend at Monaco,’ said Bakayoko. ‘He spent a few years there and they have great memories of him. Today he’s doing a very good job at Arsenal. He’s a very good coach and I’m happy to have the chance to play against his club.’
Of the criticism Wenger receives, Bakayoko is understandably equivocal. ‘It’s nothing to do with me. But he’s done very great work at Arsenal. I can’t really add to that, but it’s always been something we’re proud about, to have a French compatriot coaching Arsenal.’
Bakayoko is no shrinking violet. He documented his move to Chelsea on Instagram and drove a pink Porsche at Monaco when he arrived, a bold choice for a player struggling to get in the first team at the time. He credits coaches at Rennes for putting him back on the right track when they visited him at Monaco after his initial difficulties settling in. ‘You read all those stories,’ he told France Football last year. ‘They said that I liked fine things, that I wasn’t a hard worker. They said that I’d come for the better wages, a beautiful house. I didn’t really enjoy that. It got to me. The things that people say aren’t always true.’
He changed his car and knuckled down. With the help of another Chelsea legend, Claude Makelele, the former technical director at Monaco who had made the holding position in midfield his own, he broke into the team which won Ligue 1 in 2016 and dominated teams such as Spurs and City in the Champions League last season.
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte is impressed. He sees him as a player who will evolve into the complete midfielder and a natural partner to N’Golo Kante. ‘He has a lot of room to improve in tactical aspect, also in physical aspect,’ said Conte. ‘But Baka has been a good signing for us. He needs a bit more time than other players to understand very well our style of football. Above all if you are a midfielder, you need time to understand the right position. But I’m very happy because he’s improving and in the last 10 days he improved a lot in the tactical aspect, also in the physical aspect.’