NAPOLI have signed Chelsea flop Tiemoue Bakayoko on a season-long loan deal – the Frenchman’s third club in four years.
The Chelsea flop, 26, had been chased by six clubs, including AC Milan and PSG this summer.
Tiemoue Bakayoko has joined Napoli on a season-long loan
But Napoli have won the race after agreeing to pay a £4.5m loan fee for Bakayoko.
Chelsea had been hoping to sell the former Monaco man permanently.
Many clubs had pursued a loan deal with an obligation to buy – but balked at the Blues’ asking price.
Frank Lampard and Co had hoped to command a total of £32m – with a small payment up front for the loan, with the remainder paid next summer.
But the likes of PSG and Milan opted against a deal.
It appears Napoli have no obligation to buy and will just pay the £4.5m fee for the season.
On their club website, a statement read: “Napoli announces that it has acquired the Tiemoue Bakayoko on loan for the 2020-21 season.
“President De Laurentiis says: ‘Welcome Tiemoue!'”
Meanwhile, Bakayoko himself tweeted: “New team! New challenge!”
Bakayoko has been loaned to AC Milan and Monaco in the past two seasons.
He will now link up with Gennaro Gattuso – under whom he played at Milan – in Naples.
The French midfielder hasn’t played for the Blues since 2018 – only featuring for the club his debut season, where he failed to rediscover his Monaco form in 29 Premier League matches.
Elsewhere on deadline day, Ruben Loftus-Cheek joined Fulham on a season-long loan.
And Fikayo Tomori rejected a loan move to West Ham just TEN MINUTES before the deadline.
Chelsea ace Ruben Loftus-Cheek joins Fulham on season-long loan transfer with Frank Lampard wanting him to get game time
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
