The catalyst for Johan Bakayoko’s summer move to Leipzig was a conversation with Red Bull’s head of global sport. “When I had the talk with Jurgen Klopp, that was like the trigger point for me,” he explains. “Before, I wanted to go. But now, I have to go.”
Bakayoko smiles when asked what exactly Klopp said to persuade him to leave PSV in Eindhoven and make the move to RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga. “That was the most funny part of it,” he says. “We did not even talk about him wanting me to come.”
He explains: “It was really about football and what vision I have on football. He even told me, like, even if you go to some other club, then you have to do this to adapt better.” The player appreciated not being given the hard sell, just being seen as a human being.
Bakayoko signed for RB Leipzig from PSV this summer and will wear the No 9
“I was thinking, if someone like this talks to you in these kind of ways and he wants to build a project and he wants you to be part of it, but he doesn’t want to push you to be part of it, it gives you the freedom to express yourself. And that is everything I need.”
Klopp has long had that personal touch. It convinced Bakayoko. “I do not want to feel like I am pressured in some way,” he adds. “I just want to feel like someone wants me to help his club.”
And Bakayoko is a player who can help. He has speed and skill, he scores goals and he entertains. Klopp will have seen his performance for PSV in their 3-2 win over Liverpool in the Champions League in January, a game in which Bakayoko scored the opening goal.
Bakayoko scored the opening goal for PSV against Liverpool in January
PSV head coach Peter Bosz actually criticised his players for their showboating late in that game, suggesting it was disrespectful. Bakayoko was perhaps the chief culprit. But it is just how he sees the game. He is there to make a difference – and also have fun.
Speaking to him about that, he says: “I think that is just a part of me. You expect me to do these kind of things. That is just the way I am. That is not even something I am thinking about doing. That is just something that happens naturally at this point.
“That is not something I am forcing [myself] to do, just because someone told me to do it, I am going to do it. For me, that is how I see football and the way I want to express myself on the pitch.” A showman, then, but one who was mightily effective for PSV.
Do not be fooled by his total of one assist in their Eredivisie title win last season. That owed much to the misses of others. Bakayoko ranked among the top 20 for chances created per 90 minutes and also scored nine goals of his own in the competition.
Look at the scatter graph showing players who score goals and create chances for others and it highlights the fact that he was among the most decisive players in the Eredivisie. The next, plotting goals and dribbles, shows why he was so entertaining.
Bosz had to persuade Bakayoko to stay and be part of that title success. “In my eyes, last season was also a great opportunity to leave. But if the club do not want me to leave, that is actually not the perfect time.” There were “a lot of talks” between the pair.
“He wanted me to make the step at the right moment and, for him, last season was not the right moment. I thought it was. But if you have a good relationship with someone, you also do not want to disappoint them because he helped me a lot when he came.”
Bakayoko rejected interest from elsewhere to join the RB Leipzig project
The respect for Bosz is clear. “He gave me the opportunity, he made me a better player.” Bakayoko decided to do one more year. “I took his advice really seriously and he said to me, ‘It’s not the right time, we still have a championship to win’, So I stuck to the plan.”
That plan has taken him to Leipzig despite interest from elsewhere. “For the last three years, I think I was linked to every single club in the world, maybe.” A Premier League move was mooted but Bakayoko wanted to find “the right project” and believes that he has.
He describes his main motivation as “just to get better” which might explain why he turned down a lucrative switch to Saudi Arabia. At 22 years old, there is certainly time for him to add much more to his game and he clearly has the mentality to make it happen.
Bakayoko is enthused by his conversations with RB Leipzig head coach Ole Werner
He takes visualisation seriously, using the technique to help him prepare. “It can be everything from my decision-making to the shooting, to the passing, to go one-v-one or give a pass. It can be everything and I try to visualise and to perfect it,” he explains.
“What can happen in the game for me, for my position? What could I have done better in the last games? I also start to see new solutions in my game, what I can improve, where I am lacking some things, where I am already good and where I can be better.”
Bakayoko’s positioning and shooting in the 2024/25 Champions League for PSV
Bakayoko favours the right flank but ever since his early days in Belgium, he has been flexible. “I played as the 10 and I played also on the left side and it was quite good so I think I am capable of doing it.” The hope is that Leipzig coach Ole Werner can help him develop.
At just 37, Werner is a new breed of coach. Bakayoko describes him as “someone with a completely new aspect of the game” – a breath of fresh air. “He is like a young player coming into a new team. He has the same mentality, the same hunger.” An ideal fit for Leipzig.
Bakayoko believes RB Leipzig can be the ‘perfect match’ for him after PSV
Leipzig are not in Europe this season for the first time since they won promotion to the Bundesliga almost a decade ago, but perhaps that offers the chance for a fresh start for the club, the opportunity to build a new team – with players like Bakayoko at its heart.
“The base is really there. You see the quality is really there. The hunger to achieve things is really there. The qualities of the coaches is really there. The staff is really there.” He adds: “The project for me was actually perfect. A club that really wanted me to grow.”
A club that really wanted him, full stop. On Friday, he makes his Bundesliga debut at Bayern Munich. “I feel excited. I am used to big games, but this is a completely different environment.” An environment that he just had to be part of because of Jurgen Klopp.
