“Bakayoko needs to be helped, as he is struggling,” confirmed Gattuso. “The tactics haven’t been drilled into his head yet and evidently it’s my fault, we need to do more work with him in training.
“He has been here for two months and we haven’t yet been able to get him to understand the movements. It is our duty to improve him as a player, because he does have a lot of quality and we’re not finding that yet.”
I hope he can be good backup for Kessie this year and then it looks like the option is not going to be taken up. Shame that for all his physical talents he does not as yet appear to have the tactical intelligence or emotional fortitude required to succeed at a higher level.
Still early days though. Who knows what will happen? Everyone was bashing Hakan early last season and look how he has turned out.
Then again, if we get the players we want during the transfer window - a couple of players from Paqueta, Barella, Paredes, Tonali, Rabiot, Cesc and such will push him way down the pecking order. Emotionally he may not be able to cope and that may well be the end.