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Premier
League side Fulham have signed 19-year-old Gael Kakuta on loan from London
rivals Chelsea until the end of the season.
The
France Under-20 international, who is of Congolese descent, becomes Fulham’s second signing of the January
transfer window after Steve Sidwell joined on a permanent move from Aston
Villa.
Kakuta
will now come under the stewardship of Fulham boss Mark Hughes and, after a
frustrating couple of seasons with Chelsea, making only six appearances since
2009, the left winger will be looking to finally make his mark on the English
Premier League.
Kakuta’s
career in England got off to a controversial start two years ago after the Lens
youth product was accused of breaking his contract with Lens in order to join
Chelsea.
Chelsea
and Kakuta were both given transfer bans which were then controversially
overturned with Chelsea arguing that Kakuta did not have a valid contract with
the French side.
Kakuta
is yet to score in his professional career but, in December 2009, he became
Chelsea’s youngest ever player to play for Chelsea in the Champions League,
playing seventy-three minutes against Greek side APOEL FC. Didier Drogba is
thought to have taken the young forward under his wing as the two players had
quite similar upbringings.
Kakuta
has scored fifteen goals in forty-five appearances for the various France youth
teams, having played at every level from Under-16 up to Under-20.
Speaking
about the transfer, Fulham’s official website stated that the club were
“delighted” in being able to confirm the loan deal. It has also been confirmed
that Kakuta will wear the number 24 for the Cottagers this season. Fulham are
currently fifteenth in the table and will be hoping that both Kakuta and
Sidwell will help turn their season around.
While
the young attacking player is yet to make his full debut for his national side
it is thought that, with regular first-team football seemingly available at
Craven Cottage, Kakuta may be about to show why he is rated one of the most
exciting players currently in European football.
This article
originally appeared on sports website Sports Haze but is now unavailable due to
the site closing down.
Picture from AbsolutionMuse
