Gaël Kakuta (21 June 1992, Lille - France) Our new lad already has some experience in LaLiga Santander and was a French youth international, representing his country at all levels. He was awarded the Golden Player award for his performance at the 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship.

Kakuta, who is of Congolese descent, joined Chelsea at a young age in a controversial move from Lens. The winger became Didier Drogba’s protégé, and a prominent player for the Blues’ youth team. Two years later, at the age of 18, he debuted in the senior squad against Wolverhampton Wanderers in Stamford Bridge.

In the January transfer window of 2010-2011, Kakuta was loaned to Fulham (7 matches, 1 goal). This was the first of six loan moves he experienced as a Chelsea player. In 2011-2012 he first played for Bolton Wanderers (6 matches, 1 goal), and then for the French club Dijon (16 matches, 5 goals). At Dutch club Vitesse, he became a regular, where he played 26 matches and scored 1 goal the first season. The second season however, ended with him moving to Lazio where he only played 2 matches.

2014-2015 was a turning point in Kakuta’s career. He was loaned to Rayo Vallecano where he performed at a high level (35 matches, 5 goals). This earned him a spot at Sevilla, who paid Chelsea 3,5 million euros in order to sign him. However, he did not settle in the Seville side (5 matches, 1 goal), and was sold to Hebei China Fortune for 5 million euros. In Asia, he played 24 matches and scored 1 goal. His team finished in 7th place that season.

As an international, Kakuta lived his triumphant moment at the 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship where he was awarded the Golden Player award. France won the final 2-1, against a Spanish side with players like Thiago, Rodrigo Moreno, Marc Batra and Sergio Canales. Kakuta was a French youth international for the Under-16, Under-17, Under-18, Under-19, Under-20, and Under-21 sides. He played 73 matches and scored 23 goals in total.