Espanyol Born in
Bingerville, Bailly joined
Espanyol's youth system in December 2011, aged 17. Bailly was spotted by Espanyol's Emilio Montagut after taking part in a youth tournament in
Burkina Faso, organised by Spanish company Promoesport. Some records of that time erroneously list his name as Eric Bertrand (his
middle name misinterpreted as his
paternal surname). He only received a work permit in October of the following year, and made his senior debut in the
2013–14 campaign with
the reserves, in
Segunda División B. On 5 October 2014, Bailly made his first-team – and
La Liga – debut, coming on as a late
substitute in a 2–0 home win against
Real Sociedad. He was promoted to the main squad shortly after.
Villarreal On 29 January 2015, Bailly signed a five-and-a-half-year contract with fellow La Liga team
Villarreal for a
€5.7 million fee, mainly as a replacement to
Arsenal-bound
Gabriel Paulista. He made his debut for the Yellow Submarine on 22 February, starting in a 1–0 home win against
Eibar. On 19 March, Bailly made his
UEFA Europa League debut, starting and being
sent off in a 2–1 away loss against
Sevilla On 18 October 2015, Bailly was sent off shortly after the interval in a 2–1 loss to
Celta Vigo at the
Estadio El Madrigal. He made seven appearances as the team reached the last four of the
2015–16 UEFA Europa League; on 22 October he scored his first career goal and only one for the team, to conclude a 4–0 home group win over
Dinamo Minsk.
Manchester United 2016–17 season: Debut campaign and Europa League in 2017 On 8 June 2016, Bailly joined
Premier League side
Manchester United for a reported fee of £30 million, signing a four-year contract, with the option of an additional two. He was the first player signed by their new manager
José Mourinho. He made his competitive debut on 7 August in a 2–1 win against
Leicester City at
Wembley to win the
FA Community Shield, and was named
man of the match. He was again named man of the match on his Premier League debut a week later, a 3–1 win at
Bournemouth. He was voted
Manchester United's Player of the Month for August 2016. He said to MUTV: "The Man-of-the-Match awards are something I hadn’t thought about, but I got them through the hard work I have put in. I hope to see more of that in the weeks ahead of us." On 23 October 2016, Bailly was substituted off in the 52nd minute after suffering a serious knee injury during the 4–0 loss at
Chelsea. He made 11 appearances as the Red Devils
won the Europa League, and was named in the Squad of the Season.
2017–18 season On 19 August 2017, Bailly scored the first league goal of his club career, and his only goal for the club in Manchester United's first in a 4–0 away win over
Swansea City, following up after
Paul Pogba's header came back off the underside of the crossbar. On 8 November 2017, Bailly suffered an ankle injury, and he was sidelined for around 100 days and returned to action on 17 February 2018, coming on as a substitute for
Romelu Lukaku in the final 90-minute added additional time in a 2–0 win over Huddersfield in the FA Cup. He went on and made a total of 18 appearances and scored one goal in all competitions at the end of the season.
2018–2021: Injury-hit campaigns Bailly's injury problems continued in the 2018–19 season, which caused him to only feature in 18 games in all competitions, with 12 appearances coming in from the Premier League. He was sent off on 30 December 2018 in a 4–1 home win over
AFC Bournemouth for a foul on
Ryan Fraser, for which he was criticised by manager
Ole Gunnar Solskjær. In July 2019, Bailly was ruled out for a further four months after suffering a knee injury in a pre-season friendly against
Tottenham Hotspur in China. On 10 January 2020, he made his return from injury by playing in a game with Manchester United's under-23 team against Newcastle United. On 17 January 2020, Bailly signed a two-year contract extension with United, tying him to the club until the end of the 2021–22 season. He made a comeback in the Premier League and played his first match of the season on 17 February, featuring for the whole 90 minutes in a 2–0 win against Chelsea. He made his 100th appearance for the club in a 1–1 draw against
AC Milan in the
Europa League at
Old Trafford. On 26 April 2021, he signed a contract to 2024, with the option of one more year. On 23 September 2021, Bailly made his first appearance of the campaign in an
EFL Cup tie against
West Ham United, which Manchester United lost 1–0.
Marseille (loan) On 24 August 2022, Bailly joined
Ligue 1 club
Marseille on loan for the duration of the
2022–23 season. He debuted for Marseille as a substitute in a 3–0 win over
Nice on 28 August. On 7 January 2023, in a
Coupe de France match against
Hyères, Bailly was sent off for a dangerous high challenge that hospitalised Moussa N'Diaye. On 19 January, Bailly was issued a seven-match suspension by the
French Football Federation. Bailly ended his spell at Marseille having made 17 appearances during the
2022–23 Ligue 1 season, including five starts.
Beşiktaş On 4 September 2023,
Süper Lig club
Beşiktaş announced the signing of Bailly, on a reported one-year contract. On 11 December 2023, Beşiktaş announced that Bailly had been excluded from the squad along with
Vincent Aboubakar,
Valentin Rosier,
Rachid Ghezzal and
Jean Onana due to poor performance and incompatibility within the team. On 29 December 2023, it was announced that Bailly's contract had been terminated.
Return to Villarreal On 30 December 2023, Bailly returned to
Villarreal, signing a contract until 30 June 2025.
Oviedo On 18 August 2025, Bailly signed a two-year deal with
Real Oviedo also in the Spanish top tier. ==International career==