Will enigmatic Franck Kessie fit in at Barcelona in Summer 2022?
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Barcelona has reportedly closed a deal to bring AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie to Camp Nou in the summer on a free transfer. The deal was apparently done on Monday and will see Kessie switch clubs once his contract expires at the end of June, according to Gerard Romero.
A move for Kessie has been rumored for a little while now but it looks like the Ivorian will become another free agent to join Barcelona. Kessie could be one of many free transfers completed by the Catalans. Andreas Christensen, Noussair Mazraoui and Cesar Azpilicueta are also being linked.
Who is Franck Kessie?
Franck Yannick Kessié (born 19 December 1996) is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Serie A club AC Milan and the Ivory Coast national team.
On 2 June 2017, Kessié joined Serie A side AC Milan on a two-year loan deal from Atalanta. with the obligation to buy. Originally, he chose 19 as his shirt number but soon was persuaded by the club’s management to leave it for Leonardo Bonucci, who transferred to Milan a few weeks later; as a result, Kessié changed it to 79.
Following Bonucci’s departure in the next summer transfer window, he was offered his original shirt number back yet refused, citing that he does not want to force Milan fans to spend any extra money on his personalized shirts due to yet another number change.
Franck Kessie’s Style of Play
He had already made 7 appearances for his country at senior level before he made the move to Italy in 2015. Despite some struggles adapting to Italian football, the 24-year-old has become one of the best midfielders in the league.
Kessié came through the youth system at Stella Club d’Adjamé before he was acquired by Atalanta in January 2015. He spent time in the Primavera squad and he was sent on loan to Serie B side Cesena for the 2015/16 campaign.
During his time with the club from Emilia-Romagna, the Ivorian midfielder scored four goals in 37 league matches as the Sea Horses went on to finish equal fifth with Bari and qualify for the play-offs. He played the whole game against Spezia but he could not prevent them from losing 2-1 and being eliminated.
After his loan spell at Cesena, Kessié was brought back to Atalanta and new coach Gian Piero Gasperini immediately integrated him into the starting line-up. His impact was instantaneous, scoring twice on his Serie A debut. La Dea lost 4-3 at home to Lazio but the Ivorian youngster stood out nonetheless. He moved to AC Milan in 2017 on a 2-year loan deal with an obligation to buy.
In 2019-20, Kessié played 35 league games and scored four goals, but three of them came in consecutive games during his club’s unbeaten run. He had rediscovered his propensity to make late runs into the box but his goalscoring would improve much more in the following season.
The Ivorian international would be tasked with taking the penalties at AC Milan, especially when Zlatan Ibrahimović was not available. For the 2020/21 Serie A season, Kessié would go on to play 37 times, find the back of the net 13 times, and also provide four assists. The most crucial goals of the lot were against his former club Atalanta, converting two penalties in AC Milan’s 2-0 win in the final round, sealing the Rossoneri’s qualification for the Champions League for the first time since 2013/14.
According to WhoScored, Kessié also had a successful passing rate of 88.9 percent, averaged 1.4 tackles per game, 1.2 interceptions, and 0.4 blocks. He has performed his defensive tasks in midfield, but he has kept it simple and effective in his ball distribution, and he still demonstrates that he can drive his team forward.
Kessié also represented the Ivory Coast at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as one of the Small Elephants’ over-aged players and he featured in all of his country’s four matches before Spain eliminated the Ivorians in the quarter-finals. Spain won 5-2 after extra time.
Final Decision
Yes, Franck Kessie will absolutely fit in with the way Barcelona is currently playing under the former captain, Xavi Hernandez. Transfer Rating for Barcelona considering he will come for free: 8.5/10.
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