After top-scoring for Clermont-Ferrand last season to help the Auvergne club earn promotion to Ligue 1 Uber Eats for the very first time, Mohamed Bayo has already scored eight Ligue 1 Uber Eats goals in the current campaign.
How do you feel about your debut Ligue 1 Uber Eats campaign at just 23 years of age and with eight goals already?
"It's really another dimension. The club is entering a new stage in its history. Being from Clermont, I feel like my life has been turned upside down. I see that Ligue 1 Uber Eats is completely different from Ligue 2 BKT, that there is more impact. I didn't doubt my qualities but I didn't think it would work so well for me. I am really surprised. But I'm a hard worker and I want to succeed, so I try to give myself the means to do so."
'We can make our place'
Can Clermont make a lasting impression in the top flight?
"We can make our place. It's up to us to be more rigorous towards the end of games and to try to adapt to pick up points, but I think we have the level to do that. The objective is to try to win the two games that are coming up - it would be good to take points and try not to lose. To get 20 points before the end of the year would be a good way to start on a positive dynamic at the beginning of next year."
Was staying in a team you know, with a polished game that brings out the best in you, one of the arguments for recently extending your contract at Clermont until 2024, despite the interest of clubs like Bordeaux?
"The fact of having great service and opportunities to score goals, it made me think. I know the club, I know my teammates. That played a part in my thinking, that's for sure. For the moment, yes, it was clearly a good choice."
How did you bounce back after the traffic accident you were involved in at the end of October, when you were taken into custody?
"In my head, I told myself that I had made a mistake. That's life, it happens to everyone. I'm talking about it because I'm a footballer but these things happen every day. Quite honestly, I said to myself that I shouldn't get worked up, that I should get back to work, that I should concentrate, and that the rest would come by itself. I didn't put my head in a bucket. I kept working and now it's slowly coming back."
'It wasn't the job I liked the most'
You used to play as a right winger. Tell us about your change of position.
"At the time, I didn't really agree with the move of playing me as a striker. But as time went by, I got used to the role... It wasn't the position I liked the most, but in the end, scoring goals makes me happy! A striker sometimes spends long periods without the ball, especially in this team where we pass the ball around a lot. You don't see much of the striker. When you don't score, when you don't have a good game, people tend to take shots at you when it's not necessarily your fault."
At Clermont, several good Ligue 1 Uber Eats strikers have emerged, such as Gaëtan Laborde, Ludovic Ajorque, Adrian Grbic... How do you explain this?
"We give the strikers time here, we don't bite their heads off. Most of the strikers who have come through here have been relatively quiet in the game, but when they had to be in the box and score, they were there. That's our style and I don't think everyone understands it, because sometimes you get a slap on the wrist when you have a low profile in certain games. But that's our role! We're discreet but it's in the box that we have to make our presence felt. I'm happy, but it's not easy being a striker! Everyone takes potshots at you, but when you score, you are the king. Every week you have to challenge yourself. Every week, you have to fight again. If you get a chance, if you miss it, you must not allow doubt to creep in... It's not an easy job."
Bayo's next chance to be the king of Clermont comes when they travel to in-form Angers for their Ligue 1 Uber Eats Round 18 fixture on Sunday, 12 December.
