Buyers beware: Bakayoko's stock plummets in Juventus display
The once slick and sparkling item in the shop window has lost a bit of its luster.
Tiemoue Bakayoko entered Wednesday's Champions League semi-final first-leg versus Juventus as one of Europe's emerging defensive midfield transfer targets.
After 65 minutes, though, the 22-year-old French international's disappointing display in a 2-0 defeat to the two-time European champ may have given the hordes of prospective suitors some second thoughts.
With Manchester United, Chelsea, and Paris-Saint Germain all reportedly monitoring the robust Rennes product, Bakayoko's hour and change showing before getting yanked for Joao Moutinho hasn't helped his cause.
Now facing a near-insurmountable two-goal deficit and the away-goal tiebreaker ahead of next Tuesday's return leg in Turin, Bakayoko may very well look back at the first leg as his worst performance of a breakthrough campaign.
Sporting a protective mask after breaking his nose in a collision with principality pal Kamil Glik in training, Bakayoko and his midfield mate Fabinho were largely ineffective, with the former's two glaring errors resulting in both Juventus goals.
Monaco 0-1 Juventus (Higuain, 29)
Locked at nil-nil after a particularly good spell from the Monegasques threatened to breach Gianluigi Buffon's net, Paulo Dybala's cheeky backheel to Dani Alves sent Juventus on the attack against the run of play.
After Bakayoko failed to close down both Alves and Gonzalo Higuain, the two South American stars combined for a give-and-go, and the Frenchman's failure to track his Argentine counterpart into the penalty area left the former Napoli record breaker with enough space to score his 30th goal in all competitions.
Especially after Kylian Mbappe and Co. enjoyed a positive period where only Buffon stood between Leonardo Jardim's men and a breakthrough, Bakayoko's gaffe came at imperatively inopportune time.
Monaco 0-2 Juventus (Higuain, 59)
Much like the moments leading up to Higuain's opener, Monaco started on the front foot after the interval and looked likely to level the tie.
With Jemerson, Glik, and Fabinho all afforded heaps of space, Bakayoko decided instead to try his hand at dribbling out of trouble. What a massive mistake that was.
His needless giveaway just inside the Monaco half when sandwiched by Dybala and the stellar Alves in the 59th minute gifted Juventus a second and sucked what little hope remained at the Stade Louis II out to sea and among a gaggle of luxury yachts.
Again, Monaco failed to close down the two runners, Higuain and a streaking Miralem Pjanic, handing Alves a pair of options as Bakayoko opted to leisurely assist Jemerson in giving the Brazilian loads of space. It didn't help that left-back Djibril Sidibe was 40 yards out of possession, forcing Jemerson to mark Alves and leave just Glik and Fabinho to defend in the area.
While Bakayoko wasn't the only player to let his side down, with both Sidibe off the pace on the left and Thomas Lemar uncharacteristically poor, it's his two errors that have sunk Monaco's hopes of a first continental finale since 2004.
It's not Bakayoko's fault that the principality side failed to score at home for the first time since Nov. 26, 2015, though among a slew of underwhelming performances, the once-capped Les Bleus defensive midfielder's was the most catastrophic.
A display of a little more than an hour is hardly an indicative sample size of a player's virtues, but Bakayoko is certain to learn soon enough that football isn't always fair.