Lyon are 'hoping to sign Chelsea loanee Tiemoue Bakayoko', with the French club looking to 'hijack Cremonese’s move for the midfielder', who is currently with AC Milan

• e-mail

Lyon are hoping to hijack Cremonese's move for Tiemoie Bakayoko, with the Chelsea loanee desperate to leave after a nightmare five-and-a-half years.

The 28-year-old is currently on loan at AC Milan but has hardly played this season after falling out of favour with manager Stefano Pioli.

Despite costing Chelsea £35 million, they are now willing to let the midfielder go on for free and entered talks with Milan earlier this month over cancelling his loan deal.

Chelsea loanee Tiemoue Bakayoko has fallen out of favour on loan at AC Milan this season

The 28-year-old has endured a nightmare spell at Stamford Bridge since signing in 2017

Reports from Fabrizio Romano suggest that Cremonese were favourites to sign Bakayoko, but that Lyon have now entered talks with him as the Italian side are 'yet to agree a deal.' 

There is also a chance of the France international moving to Turkey after interest from Adana Demirspor last week.

If Bakayoko does leave, it will end a peculiar spell at Chelsea that has seen him make just 43 appearances for the club since 2017.

He was a regular in his first season at Stamford Bridge but failed to convince the club that he was the answer to their midfield problems.

He has played just 43 times for his parent club and 'finally looks set for a move away'

When Maurizio Sarri arrived in 2018, the Italian coach brought in Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic while deeming Bakayoko surplus to requirements, and he was loaned out to Milan. 

 Further loan spells at Monaco and Napoli followed, before he returned to Milan last summer.

Wherever he ends up, the midfielder will likely be keen to secure regular game time somewhere with his once-promising career currently stalling.