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Fullname: Vakoun Issouf Bayo
aka: Bayo, Vakoun Bayo, ‘The Crow’
Born: 10 January 1997
Birthplace: Ivory Coast
Signed: 8 January 2019 (est £2m from Daunajska Streda (Slovakia))
Loan out: 7 August 2020 (season long loan to Toulouse) (one season)
Left: 9 July 2021 (to KAA Gent, est £1.5m)
Position: Forward
Debut: Kilmarnock 0-1 Celtic, League, 17 Feb 2019
Squad No.: 10
Internationals: Ivory Coast
International Caps: 2 [complete at end of career]
International Goals: 0 [complete at end of career]
Biog
Bayo had arrived at Celtic to help plug a gap in the squad. Edouard was still young, and Leigh Griffiths was put on leave to help him deal with personal issues.
Bayo had a stellar record in Slovakia (18 goals in 23 games) just prior to arriving at Celtic, so hopes were high. He joined Dunajska Streda, having previously spent two years playing in Tunisia. Apparently, his nickname was ‘The Crow‘ (given from before his time at Celtic), but not that anyone can ever recall that being used whilst he was at Celtic.
On his unveiling, he arrived in style as Celtic shrouded the stadium in darkness in a midweek match to then put the new disco lights on centre spot to reveal Bayo waving a Celtic scarf to the fans. Showmanship from the start.
Despite the big entrance and his confident words, there was little of positive note to say on him. He was given a number of chances across games, but little proved his worth. His only two goals came against Partick Thistle (5-0 win) and against lower tier Clyde (3-0 win), so didn’t prove himself in tougher matches. In fairness, v Hearts in August 2019, he had ‘scored’ two goals but they were classed by others as ‘own goals’, helping Celtic to a 3-1 win.
A big strong physical fellow, it was thought he could bed in and learn from his teammates, and in time help to assist & push his colleagues and be a support for an ageing Scott Brown. Competing for the forward spots against Griffiths, Edouard and a plethora of strong midfielders made it difficult for him to break through. His link up looked a bit unrefined and clumsy, but there was hope he could push on. His goal tally wasn’t bad on paper, but he didn’t progress or seem to develop.
His most notable incident came when involved in a very ridiculous and unfair situation in the Europa league match away to Rennes in September 2019 (1-1 draw). After a shot at the keeper by a Celtic player, the keeper spilt the ball and Bayo went in to take advantage, but the keeper recovered.
However little happened and the referee said to carry on and had a perfect view. Then the keeper rolled around holding his head but replay shows no contact to head whatsoever. The referee went up to check on the goalie and then reversed his original decision and showed a second yellow to Bayo. Their goalkeeper was holding his head despite no contact! Shameful. Bayo was hard done by. If there was VAR (not yet used in the Europa league at this point) he’d have been cleared you’d have expected.
Soon after that he was out injured in October 2019 needing surgery, and really that was the end of his Celtic career. He’d had an injury in the summer just past too.
Celtic were marching on to a record equalling nine-in-a-row with many youngsters punching above their weight and a strong squad despite various setbacks along the way. Neil Lennon didn’t turn to Bayo who was dropping down the ranks and quickly forgotten. Few could recall much of his time on the field.
After December 2019 when Celtic were under extreme pressure from Sevco and behind in the league for the title, there were no calls for Bayo. He was out of the plans from what most of the support could tell.
The Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, and the season was curtailed early, so losing him any chance of more gametime that season. With changes needed and the new season up & coming, Bayo was away to Toulouse on a season long loan-to-buy deal in a very surprise move as only a few days before it was St Mirren reported to be after him. Odsonne Edouard & Christopher Jullien had previously played for Toulouse and so may have assisted on the move.
To the amazement of all at Celtic, Bayo on his debut for Toulouse scored twice albeit in a 4-2 defeat in the French Ligue 2 (second tier). The irony of that performance came just a few days after Celtic had been ignominiously knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers having fielded a team without a striker which led to pelters for the management.
There were no complaints about Bayo as a person, but he was just not up to standard or progressing at Celtic. If anything, he was unfortunately another example for critics of the lacklustre transfers that Rodgers was repeatedly criticised for. Granted Rodgers had some great transfers, but overall he had a hell of a lot of duds too, and Bayo was bracketed in that number. Neil Lennon as the new manager had a different philosophy to Rodgers and Bayo despite opportunities to prove himself didn’t seem to fit into the bigger picture.
In retrospect, his extravagant on-field entrance has become quite cringeworthy when you see how far he was to sadly fail to make it at Celtic. The club’s off-field management deserve criticism for that presentation and not Bayo. It likely over-inflated expectations and the pressure to succeed. His pricetag didn’t help either, but with a fine record coming into Celtic, more was understandably expected. There were no issues with him personally from the support.
The Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, and the season was curtailed early, so losing him any chance of more gametime that season. With changes needed and the new season up & coming, Bayo was away to Toulouse (in the French second tier) on loan in a very surprise move. If anything, he benefited by being away from the shambles that was Celtic in the 2020/21 season that saw Celtic squander the chance for a record ten league titles in a row.
He hit a fine run of form in his matches away on loan, especially for being a target man for headers, albeit concerns still lingered about his ability on the ball on the ground. He had a reasonably productive loan spell at Toulouse in Ligue 2, scoring 13 goals in 36 games. After failing to get promotion, Toulouse sacked their manager and initially made no suggestion that they were keen to turn the loan into a permanent deal.
He ended up signing on for KAA Gent in Belgium on a 4-year-deal in July 2021. We wished him the best, but sadly in truth we hardly got to know him. His exit was very quietly done in stark contrast to his flamboyant entrance. He was still young so could still turn things around, and much to his credit despite any personal frustrations at the lack of opportunities, he never aired any issues publicly or spat the dummy out.
We wished him the best.
Post-Celtic
His time at Gent was very brief, making only a handful of appearances, but after a successful loan spell to Charleroi (11 goals in 16 games) in 2021/22, he proved a lot of doubters wrong.
This incredibly won him in 2022 a relatively high money transfer move to England, ableit to Watford in the second tier for an estimated £5-6m. Unsurprsingly, that move did not work despite being a regular there for two seasons, and after only his first half-season at Watford, Charleroi welcomed him back on loan for the second half 2022/23. He was a regular in 2023/24, but was mostly unsuccesful.
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Quotes
“Bayo’s transfer to @CelticFC is the biggest of our history. For the first time, a player leaves Dunaszerdahely directly to the British Isles, in addition to a giant club that has 131 years of tradition and has been outstanding on the international stage.”
Dunaszerdahelyi FC DAC 1904 Official FC DAC 1904@DAC_1904 via Twitter
“Given my current performances, I think everything should be in order for me. I am a fighter. If I’m at Celtic, it’s because I have a talent, so it’s up to me to fight to win my place.”
Bayo March 2019
“…I think I must to learn this dance”
Bayo after his debut, bamboozled by the Zombie Nation dance at the end with the supporters
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 2018-19 | 1 | – | – | – | 1 |
| Goals | 0 | – | – | – | 0 |
| 2019-20 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 16 |
| Goals | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Total | 9 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 17 |
| Goals | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
Honours with Celtic
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BBC
Vakoun Issouf Bayo: Celtic sign Ivory Coast striker on four-year deal
8 Jan 2019
Celtic have signed Ivory Coast striker Vakoun Issouf Bayo on a four-year deal from Slovakian side Dunajska Streda.The 21-year-old forward has scored 18 goals in 23 games this season, helping his team into second place in the Slovakian Super Liga.He joined Dunajska Streda in March last year, having previously spent two years playing in Tunisia.The deal – worth a reported £2m – is subject to a work permit and a medical and is Celtic’s third deal this month.Celtic have already brought in West Brom winger Oliver Burke and Paris Saint-Germain striker Timothy Weah on loan until the end of the season.Bayo will add another option in attack for Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, with French striker Moussa Dembele sold to Lyon in the summer, and Leigh Griffiths taking a break from football to deal with personal issues.Bayo has two caps for the Ivory Coast, and made his senior international debut in October last year, appearing from the bench in an African Cup of Nations qualifier against the Central African Republic.