Gael Kakuta, born on 21 June, 1991, in Lille, France, is a 1.76m winger/forward currently on loan to Fulham from Chelsea. He is a young man often referred to as phenomenal as far as his skills and native ability in the game of football are concerned.
Kakuta started on his career in football when he was seven years old watching his uncle play in Lille. In his first match his team lost 17-1 but that was not to make him become discouraged and he continued to grow and improve in the game. He joined Lens in 1999 as a youth player and continued there for five years until the age of thirteen when he went to attend the Centre de Perforation de Football, a training center for players from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in France. Joachim Marx, one of his trainers during this period, said, “The easiest way to describe him is a phenomenon.”
This Congolese descended player has been a French youth International on the under-17, under-18, under-19, and under-20 levels. He has scored a total of 15 goals in 45 games taking all the levels into account. Kakuta’s talent has shown forth since first he came onto the International scene.
Gael Kakuta moved to Chelsea in 2007 and immediately became a player for the youth team. He did very well there earning the Academy Scholar of the year as well as the Academy Player of the year. In the 2008-2009 season he was given the chance to train with the first team even though he still played only on the reserve. Things came to a temporary halt when Kakuta suffered a double ankle fracture while playing in a friendly with Glenn Hoddle Academy. This injury sidelined him for six months, and he was only able to return to the team in August.
On the first of September 2009, Carlo Ancellotti, the Chelsea manager, put Kakuta on his Champions League squad, and Kakuta made his debut appearance for the team as a substitute in a home game against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 21 November 2009. He impressed everyone with his skills, enthusiasm and tricks. Kakuta has been put on loan to Fulham in the Premier League a move which will offer the very young star playing time in the premier division of the league.
In 2009 there were allegations filed of tapping up by English Premier League clubs of French and English youth. The controversy started when Gael Kakuta allegedly breached his contract with RC Lens in order to join Chelsea. Other French and one Italian club then reported that other English Premier League clubs had been tempting youngsters away from contracts. The Kakuta controversy was settled by the fact that Kakuta himself had signed no contract with RC Lens but his mother had signed for him. It was decided that Kakuta had done no contract breach and all judgments against him and Chelsea were withdrawn.
This exciting and brilliantly skilled footballer bears watching in the seasons ahead.