AC Milan boss Gennaro Gattuso has slammed Chelsea loanee Tiemoue Bakayoko after his display in their shock 3-2 loss to Napoli on Saturday.
The Rossoneri took a 2-0 lead after 50 minutes against Carlo Ancelotti’s side only to surrender that lead and fall to a damaging opening loss against their top-four rivals in Naples.
Bakayoko was a second half substitute, coming on after the first Napoli goal, and Gattuso has now ripped into the midfielder for his ineffective display.
As quoted by the Evening Standard, he said: “Bakayoko has to learn how to get the ball. We must work correctly. It will not be easy.
“One week is not enough to remove the defects of a player. I would have preferred to be managing older, more experienced club players.”
OPINION
It was not exactly the dream debut for Bakayoko at Milan, but this criticism from Gattuso looks to be seriously harsh. Even if he did put in a poor display, the blame cannot be solely laid at his feet. It is early days in his Milan career, and at such a young age, criticism like this will not do him any good. Gattuso is known for his fiery demeanour, but this is slightly uncalled for from the Milan legend. Hopefully Bakayoko can recover from this poor start and become a key cog for Milan in their midfield, with the young Frenchman needing a good season to kickstart his career once again after a poor first season at Chelsea. Milan is a big stage for him to showcase his huge talent, and he must now kick on and prove Gattuso wrong after this setback, and in process hopefully save his Chelsea career.