Top Facts about Tiemoue Bakayoko, the French Midfielder

With the help of the information gathered by different sources, Sportmob reveals the complete story of Bakoko, a midfield machine best known by his nickname, Bakoko.

Our Tiemoue Bakayoko Youth Story and Untold Biography facts provide you with a comprehensive description of significant events from his childhood to the present.

His personal history before stardom, his family background, and many OFF-Pitch facts about him are all part of the writing.

Due to his strong all-around abilities of pace, smart game reading, ability to block passes, and successful tackling, passing, and dribbling, Bakayoko has been compared to Yaya Toure. His physicality and athleticism are his most valuable assets.

He is an expert in the defensive midfield position. Bakayoko’s manager at Monaco, Leonardo Jardim, once said: “He wins a lot of balls, brings balance to the team.

He passes the ball well and wins his duels. That is Bakayoko’s role. He is a complete midfielder, an important athletic presence, he’s good at recovery and scoring decisive goals.”

Top Facts about Tiemoue Bakayoko You’d Like to Know

Some quick facts about him before we get started.

Quick Facts

• Full Name:

   Tiemoue Bakayoko

• Nicknames:

   Baka, Bakoko, the Dark Knight

• Date of Birth:

   17 August 1994

• Place of Birth:

   Paris, France

• Age:

   27

• Nationality:

   French

• Height:

   1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)

• Weight:

   77 kg

• Marital Status:

   Unmarried

• Girlfriend: 

  N/A

• Net Worth:

   N/A

• Position:

   Central midfielder

• Current Team:

   AC Milan (on loan from Chelsea)

• Jersey Number:

   41

Tiemoue Bakayoko Upbringing Years and Family Roots

Bakayoko was born on August 17, 1994, in Paris, to parents who emigrated from the Ivory Coast to the French capital in search of a better life.

Ivory Coast, also known as Cote d'Ivoire, and formally known as the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire, is a country on the west African coast.

Yamoussoukro, in the country's center, serves as the country's political capital, while Abidjan acting as the country's economic capital and largest city.

It is bordered on the northwest by Guinea, on the west by Liberia, on the northwest by Mali, on the northeast by Burkina Faso, on the east by Ghana, and on the south by the Gulf of Guinea (Atlantic Ocean).

The official language of the republic is French, but local native languages such as Baoule, Dioula, Dan, Anyin, and Cebaara Senufo are also commonly spoken.

In Ivory Coast, there are approximately 78 different languages spoken. Christianity, Islam, and different indigenous religions all have considerable populations in the country.

Ivory Coast is a republic with a president who has significant executive power.

During the 1960s and 1970s, one of the Top Facts about Tiemoue Bakayoko is that his ancestry country was an economic powerhouse in West Africa thanks to the production of coffee and cocoa, yet it had an economic crisis in the 1980s, leading to a period of political and social unrest. 

The gross domestic product did not return to its 1970s peaks until roughly 2014. Ivory Coast was the world's leading supplier of cocoa beans in 2020, with strong revenue levels for the region. 

The Ivorian economy has been mostly market-based in the twenty-first century, and it continues to rely significantly on agriculture, with smallholder cash-crop production dominating.

Tiemoue shares the same French-Ivorian ancestry as many of his black mates. He grew up in the Barbes neighborhood, which has a considerable population of people of African heritage.

It was traditionally recognized as a neighborhood in Paris with a considerable number of black people who had immigrated from Africa.

Tiemoue Bakayoko witnessed his parents working various menial jobs as a child in order to put food on the table and send money to extended families in Ivory Coast, another one of the

Top Facts about Tiemoue Bakayoko

.

Most menial occupations were dominated by black Africans at the time, even among the educated. For the young lad, going to school was not a priority.

Tiemoue Bakayoko Career Buildout

He was inspired to play football by the 1998 World Cup in France, just like Sadio Mane.

The soon to be a professional footballer was taken aback when he saw

, a country close to his own (Ivory Coast), beat France in the first round and then watch France go down to brag about the tournament's glories.

He once said:

“I was inspired by the bravery of notable black French players in the team. I was a person who loved great defenders and defensive midfielders.

The likes of

, Lilian Thuram, and Marcel Desailly were my favorite. Their performances ignited a career part for me. However, I can’t fail to mention Claude Makalele who laid the foundation of what I have become.”

Bakayoko, like many other black children, skipped school and grew enamored with football following the 1998 World Cup in France, one of the Top Facts about Tiemoue Bakayoko.

His parents recognized his calling and equipped him with all of the resources he needed to get off to a good start.

At the age of five, they enrolled him in a football academy (Le club de football de PARIS 15).

When Bakayoko was at his first academy, he displayed the highest level of brilliance.

He was a cut above the rest of the kids in the program, and he was named the best young footballer at one point.

Paris 15 held him for four years (until he was nine years old) before allowing his parents to transfer him to a superior academy known as CA Paris Charenton.

The young football lover only stayed at Charenton for a year before moving on to

. He encountered an insurmountable obstacle, a waterloo, at this club.

Bakayoko shattered his leg as a young player (age 10) while playing for Montrogue FC 92 after what he described as a "nasty challenge" from an opponent.

His youthful career was put on hold for a long time due to the severity of the injury.

“At some point in time, I saw my young career coming to an abrupt end”. It was a period of intense suffering for me.

My recovery process was slow and it saw me spend nearly 3 years without playing football”, says Bakayoko.

A full recovery from a distal humerus fracture was confirmed in 2008. At the time, he was only 13 years old.

Before taking up where he left off in his profession, he waited a few weeks to make sure he was fully recovered.

Due to his lack of form, he was not selected by any club. Even his prior football academies had turned him down, another one of the Top Facts about Tiemoue Bakayoko.

After various considerations by the administration, it was the football academy at Rennes that finally provided him with an opportunity to rediscover his form.

They took into account the fact that he was once highly regarded by his previous teams. This occurred while he was only 14 years old, in 2009.

Tiemoue Bakayoko Path to Prominence

The central midfielder made his

debut against Evian TG on August 24, 2013, playing the entire match in a 2–1 away win.

Bakayoko joined Monaco for £7 million in July 2014 and made his Ligue 1 debut against Lorient on August 10th of that year. In a 2–1 home loss, he was substituted by Valere Germain after 32 minutes.

Monaco manager Leonardo Jardim's early substitution damaged their relationship, with Bakayoko saying:

"From then on, something was a little broken between him and me." Bakayoko didn't start another match for over two months after his debut, and the rest of his season was marred by injuries and poor form.

One of the Top Facts about Tiemoue Bakayoko is that tensions between Jardim and Bakayoko persisted, with the footballer believing he had been unfairly handled by his manager, who had grown unhappy with Bakayoko's progress, questioned his attitude during training, and criticized him for being late for meetings.

After 31 Ligue 1 appearances in his first two seasons at

, the footballer determined to change his attitude in order to reach his full potential.

It's all thanks to his mentor, Claude Makalele, who was named technical director of Monaco in January 2016.

“Makélélé helped me greatly. When he arrived at Monaco I wasn’t a very, very good player, but I had a lot of discussions with him.

He gave me a lot of advice and taught me how to play my style of football more simply. He even allowed me to call him for extra training assistance.”

Bakayoko also sought advice from his former youth coach at Rennes, Yannick Menu. 

As a result, especially when Jeremy Toulalan and Mario Pasalic both left the club in 2016, Bakayoko became a regular starter for Monaco, helping the team win the Ligue 1 title in 2016–17 and being nominated to the UEFA Champions League squad of the season in 2016–17.

For Bakayoko, it was a critical season. He had not only proven himself as a vital member of Monaco's team with consistent performances, but he also had fewer injuries and his training application was no longer questioned.

The French midfielder scored the final goal (his first-ever UEFA Europa League or UEFA Champions League goal) with a header from a

free-kick during the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg match at the Stade Louis II on March 15, 2017, to help Monaco secure a crucial goal against Manchester City.

Monaco won 3–1 and won the tie on the away goals rule (aggregate score 6–6).

He revealed in an interview that a recurrence of a knee injury from 2015 that resulted in a crack in the meniscus caused him a lot of pain during his final season at Monaco:

"People don't know but throughout the whole of last season, I suffered because of my knee. I really had to grit my teeth in every match."

Tiemoue Bakayoko Ascend to Prominence

Bakayoko signed a five-year contract with Premier League club Chelsea on July 15, 2017, for a cost of about £40 million, making him the club's second most expensive signing after

, one of the

Top Facts about Tiemoue Bakayoko

.

On August 20, 2017, he made his Chelsea debut in a 2–1 Premier League away win over Tottenham Hotspur.

In a 4–1 loss away to Watford on February 5, he was sent off for the first time in his Chelsea career.

The 26 year old was sent off for two bookable offenses in the first half, one against Etienne Capoue and the other against Richarlison.

In his first season, Bakayoko failed to impress.

Fans and journalists alike criticized the footballer for his performances, with games against Watford (when he was sent off after only 30 minutes) and Newcastle United (3–0) on the last day of the Premier League season being singled out as two of his worst.

Bakayoko's poor form extended into the 2018–19 season, with him being held responsible for Inter Milan's equalizer in a 1–1 preseason tie after losing possession in midfield.

He joined Serie A club

on a season-long loan on August 14, 2018, for a cost of €5 million with the option to make the move permanent for €35 million.

The former Monaco player agreed to return to the Ligue 1 club on loan until the end of the 2019–20 season, with the option of making the move permanent for a reported sum of €42.5 million, on August 31, 2019.

Bakayoko returned to Napoli on a season-long loan on October 6, 2020. He would play for Gennaro Gattuso, the club's current manager, who was in charge of A.C. Milan throughout Bakayoko's 2018–19 season there.

He made his Napoli debut on October 17, 2020, in a 4–1 home win over Atalanta.

On 10 January 2021, the professional netted his first goal for the club, giving Napoli a late 2–1 win over Udinese at home.

Tiemoue Bakayoko Personal & Love Life

Bakayoko is unmarried as of august 2021 and hasn't had any affairs to date. He has never been suspected of having an affair or having a girlfriend. When it comes to his personal life, he appears to be pretty private.

The great midfielder is born in 1994, the Dog year, one of the Top Facts about Tiemoue Bakayoko.

After the Rooster and before the Pig, Dog is the 11th sign of the Chinese zodiac.

1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, and 2030 are all recent Dog years... Every 12 years, a Dog year occurs.

People born in dog years are trustworthy and honest, charming and gentle, cautious and sensible. Dogs (referred to people born in these years), who have a high feeling of loyalty and sincerity, will go to great lengths for the person they consider to be the most essential.

It is difficult for dogs to communicate their thoughts to others since they are poor communicators. As a result, Dogs give the impression of having a stubborn disposition to others.

Dogs believe the world is wicked and complex when they are forced into doubt. Then they criticize harshly while making comments, inferring that everything is based on their negative viewpoint.

However, all this information is merely for entertainment purposes and it may or may not be true and the fact is that the

midfielder has kept his personal life hidden from the public and there is not much about his characteristics off the field.

Tiemoue Bakayoko Networth & LifeStyle

Bakayoko has gone through a lot of changes during his life. Following his meeting with Claude Makalele, a former French international. He went from a regular to a handsome appearance.

He makes an impression both on and off the field these days. He is a tall 1.84m man who isn't afraid to play with his appearance, coloring his hair pink one day and blonde the next, one of the Top Facts about Tiemoue Bakayoko.

In 2014, he arrived in Monaco under the wheel of a pink Porsche Cayenne, emerging from the gates of a luxury villa.

The French-African once changed the color of his entire fleet of vehicles from pink to black, another one of the

Top Facts about Tiemoue Bakayoko

.

In addition, he started boxing, adjusted his diet, and increased his strength.

Tiemoue traded the villa for a more modest flat and had the Cayenne resprayed black after a major change in attitude prompted by his former youth coach at Rennes. He elaborated:

“They were saying that I loved the nice things in life, that I wasn’t a grafter, that I’d come (to Monaco) only for a higher salary, which wasn’t the case.”

Tiemoue Bakayoko Less-Known Details

Quite a few facts which most people and fans haven’t heard about in our final section of the Top Facts about Tiemoue Bakayoko.

Why the Mask?

In the build-up to Monaco's Champions League semi-final first leg against Juventus, Bakayoko broke his nose in training.

He didn't let that stop him from going up against the Italians, and he chose to do so while wearing a special protective black face mask that gave him the appearance of a Marvel superhero and the nickname: 'Dark Knight.'

The Fantastic Header

Any time

arrives at Stamford Bridge to watch Bakayoko play, they will be well aware of the damage he can cause.

His magnificent header 13 minutes from time in March doomed Pep Guardiola's City to an agonizing Champions League last-16 defeat on away goals.

After a 5-3 first-leg victory, City came at the principality in control of the tie.

And they led 6-5 with 19 minutes left, only for Bakayoko to convert Thomas Lemar's free-kick to give Monaco a memorable triumph. “It’s an immense joy to score in the Champions League. I didn’t expect this,” he said.

On a Private Jet

Tiemoue Bakayoko sparked Chelsea fans' interest by uploading a photo of himself boarding a private jet flying for London from France.

This plane carried him to London, where he would join the Blues. This was his first trip to Chelsea to get medical treatment and sign a contract.

He accompanied the picture with the message: “Plane, Let’s go … I'm gonna have a good week with Chelsea FC” accompanied by a pair of plane emojis.

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