| Vakoun Issouf Bayo | |
| Full Name: | Vakoun Issouf Bayo |
| Birth Date: | 10 January 1997 |
| Birth Place: | Daloa, Ivory Coast |
| Height: | 1.84 m |
| Position: | Forward |
| Currentclub: | Watford |
| Clubnumber: | 19 |
| Youthclubs1: | Stade d'Abidjan |
| Years1: | 2015–2017 |
| Clubs1: | Étoile du Sahel |
| Caps1: | 11 |
| Goals1: | 0 |
| Years2: | 2018–2019 |
| Clubs2: | Dunajská Streda |
| Caps2: | 25 |
| Goals2: | 14 |
| Years3: | 2019–2021 |
| Clubs3: | Celtic |
| Caps3: | 9 |
| Goals3: | 2 |
| Years4: | 2020–2021 |
| Clubs4: | → Toulouse (loan) |
| Caps4: | 31 |
| Goals4: | 10 |
| Years5: | 2021–2022 |
| Clubs5: | Gent |
| Caps5: | 3 |
| Goals5: | 0 |
| Years6: | 2022 |
| Clubs6: | → Charleroi (loan) |
| Caps6: | 16 |
| Goals6: | 11 |
| Years7: | 2022 |
| Clubs7: | Charleroi |
| Caps7: | 0 |
| Goals7: | 0 |
| Years8: | 2022– |
| Clubs8: | Watford |
| Caps8: | 63 |
| Goals8: | 10 |
| Years9: | 2023 |
| Clubs9: | → Charleroi (loan) |
| Caps9: | 10 |
| Goals9: | 3 |
| Nationalyears1: | 2015 |
| Nationalteam1: | Ivory Coast U23 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 4 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 1 |
| Nationalyears2: | 2018– |
| Nationalteam2: | Ivory Coast |
| Nationalcaps2: | 2 |
| Nationalgoals2: | 0 |
| Club-Update: | 4 May 2024 (UTC) |
| Nationalteam-Update: | 3 January 2019 |
Vakoun Issouf Bayo (born 10 January 1997) is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Watford and the Ivory Coast national team. He is nicknamed The Crow.[1]
Bayo joined Dunajská Streda in March 2018.[2] He made his Slovak league debut against Slovan Bratislava on 18 March 2018.[3]
Bayo moved to Scottish Premiership club Celtic in January 2019.[4] He was left out of the Celtic squad for the later stages of the 2018 - 19 UEFA Europa League, with the club only able to register three of their four January window signings.[5] He made his debut for Celtic against Kilmarnock on 17 February 2019, coming on as a late substitute shortly before Scott Brown scored a late winner.[6] [7]
On 12 August 2020, Bayo signed for French club Toulouse, on a one-year loan, with an additional option to buy.[8]
On 9 July 2021, Bayo signed for Belgian First Division A club Gent on a four-year deal.[9]
On 22 December 2021, Bayo agreed to join Charleroi on loan until the end of the season, with an option to buy.[10] On 16 May 2022, Charleroi confirmed that they had exercised the option to purchase and had signed Bayo on a contract until 2026 after a successful loan spell that saw him score eleven goals in sixteen matches.[11]
On 2 July 2022, Bayo joined EFL Championship club Watford on a five-year deal.[12]
On 30 January 2023, Bayo rejoined Charleroi on loan until the end of the season.[13]
| Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Étoile du Sahel | 2015-16 | CLP-1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 | ||
| 2016–17 | CLP-1 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 9 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 15 | 0 | |||
| Dunajská Streda | 2017–18 | Slovak Super Liga | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 9 | 4 | |||
| 2018–19 | Slovak Super Liga | 16 | 10 | 3 | 5 | – | 4 | 3 | 23 | 18 | |||
| Total | 25 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 32 | 22 | |||
| Celtic | 2018–19 | Scottish Premiership | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2019–20 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 16 | 4 | |||
| Total | 9 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 17 | 4 | |||
| Toulouse (loan) | 2020–21 | Ligue 2 | 31 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 36 | 13 | |
| Gent | 2021–22 | Belgian First Division A | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 | ||
| Charleroi (loan) | 2021–22 | Belgian First Division A | 16 | 11 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 16 | 11 | |||
| Watford | 2022–23 | Championship | 24 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 25 | 4 | ||
| 2023–24 | Championship | 39 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 42 | 7 | |||
| 2024–25 | Championship | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | |||
| Total | 65 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | 69! | 11 | ||||
| Charleroi (loan) | 2022–23 | Belgian First Division A | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 10 | 3 | |||
| Career total | 166 | 46 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 3 | 198 | 63 | |||
Celtic