Tiemoue Bakayoko has not only replaced Nemanja Matic at Chelsea – he could prove to be an upgrade. That’s the claim of Chelsea legend Pat Nevin, who has identified one thing the French midfielder has to his advantage over Matic. The £40million summer signing made his long-awaited debut for the Blues on Sunday and put in a tremendous performance.
Despite having been sidelined with injury and lacking match fitness, Bakayoko excelled in the 2-1 win over Tottenham.
It was a performance that will go some way to silencing those who have questioned Chelsea’s decision to allow Matic to leave the club. The Serbian midfielder, who was a key player in the Blues’ two most recent title wins, moved to Manchester United in a £40million deal.
Nevin believes Bakayoko could be as good as Matic – plus the 23-year-old has an age advantage over the man he replaced.
‘Nemanja Matic has gone and has made a fine start at United, so well done him. He did a great job for this club and we are grateful for that,’ Nevin wrote in his column for Chelseafc.com.
‘Many were quick to suggest it was a mistake to let him go, but if Tiemoue is as good, he is also crucially six years younger and that counts for a great deal when you are building a squad.’
Nevin added: ‘His energy levels on the day were bordering on superhuman considering the lack of training and match fitness.
‘You can only guess at what else he will have to offer in the future when you see him striding away from top players who are many weeks, or even months, ahead of him in their season’s fitness regimes.’
Credit: Metro
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