Failed Wonderkid #3- Gael Kakuta

Biodata

Full Name: Gael Kakuta

Nationality: DR Congolese

Date of Birth: 21 June 1991

Position: Winger

Current Club: Amiens (France)

Current Market Price: 3.50mil Euro (Updated on Dec 19 2019)

Highest Market Price: 6.00mil Euro (Sept 2015)

Former Clubs:

2009- 2015 Chelsea

2011 Fulham (loan)

2011- 2012 Bolton Wanderers (loan)

2012 Dijon (loan)

2012- 2014 Vitesse (loan)

2014 Lazio (loan)

2014- 2015 Rayo Vallecano

2015- 2016 Sevilla

2016- 2018 Hebei China Fortune

2017 Deportivo La Coruna (loan)

2017- 2018 Amiens (loan)

2018- 2019 Rayo Vallecano

International Career:

2017- DR Congo

Achievement:

France

2010 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship

Career

Back in September 2009, a youngster who almost caused Chelsea from signing any players for one year and the player himself be banned for 4 months and be fined almost 1million Euro by the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber. Who was the young player Chelsea willing to risk just to get his signature in order to get him on board in the youth team? Did Chelsea pay off the risk just to sign this particular young player?

Gael Kakuta was born in Lille and started to play in the local-based club US Lille-Moulins at the age of seven after seeing his uncle play for the Lille reserve team. He joined RC Lens youth setup in 1999 and spent most of his youth career over there. In the meantime, he was also selected to attend the Centre de Preformation de Football in 2004. He spent two years at the centre training during weekdays and playing with Lens on the weekend.

Kakuta broke into the public scene when he signed for Chelsea in 2007. However, it is not about his talent, but the accused wrongdoings that he and Chelsea conducted when they signed him. RC Lens filed complaints that Kakuta breached his contract in order to sign for Chelsea. Chelsea was also been complained due to their involvement in inducing Kakuta to break his contract. This legal issue has been brought into the public scene and Kakuta has gained more attention than ever in his whole life. In 2010, both him and Kakuta has been cleared from any wrongdoings.

Kakuta started to show a glimpse of hope whenever he was given chances by his manager. He made his Premier League debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers in November 2009 and Champions League debut in December 2009 against APOEL in the age of 18. He was the youngest Chelsea player to represent the club in the Champions League. With the chances provided, Kakuta started to pay off what Chelsea almost risked in order to sign him into the club. Or is he?

On January 2011, Kakuta joined Fulham on loan until the end of the season. This was his first of many loan spells out from Chelsea in his 6 years stint in Chelsea. Since then, he had joined several clubs out on loan including the likes of Bolton Wanderers, Dijon, Vitesse, Lazio and Rayo Vallecano. Sadly, none of his loan spells is proved to be fruitful as he only registered 12 goals in 4 years. He was subsequently released by Chelsea after his contract expired in 2015.

A free transfer to Sevilla does not revive his career has he only register 5 appearances and only register a goal and an assist in all competition. He joined the Chinese side, Hebei China Fortune for 5mil Euro after just one year in Seville. Which he also flopped and sent on loan twice to Deportivo La Coruna and Amiens. He didn’t do much in the loan spell in Spain but start to regain his form in Amiens. In which he scored 6 goals and registered 6 assists. Both of the statistics are the most in his career.

Kakuta returned to Amiens after a brief spell in his another former club, Rayo Vallecano which he suffered relegation. At the time of writing, he registered one goal and three assists in 16 games in the league. It is a far cry from his previous potential, but he is regaining his form and confidence in a relatively smaller pond.

Verdict

Disappointment Rate: 8/10. Looking at how Chelsea almost risked to bring him in the team. It is hard to be not disappointing to see how Kakuta has done in his career so far. The story of Gael Kakuta will always be mentioned when someone talks about the development of the young players in a relatively big club.