'Most talented player of his generation' reveals TRUTH behind Chelsea woes

Cameron Smith

• Updated: 17 Jun 2024 12:55 BST
• 6 min read

Gael Kakuta believes that an injury in 2010 was the reason he failed to become a legend at Chelsea.

The Frenchman was the hottest prospect in world football when he left RC Lens to join Chelsea aged just 16, but he mustered only 16 first-team appearances for the Blues and after six loan spells away, he departed on a permanent deal in 2015.

In 2014, Guy Hillion, who discovered Kakuta while he was at Lens, told L’Equipe (via SportBible): “I've already said it and I'll repeat it: He [Kakuta] was the most talented of his generation. He could be exceptional. But talent is not enough.”

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Furthermore, Chelsea legend Eden Hazard appeared on John Obi Mikel’s podcast earlier this year and he named Kakuta as the most talented player he played with during his career, to the shock of many.

In addition, Carlo Ancelotti described a teenage Kakuta as “the future of Chelsea” after his breakthrough into the Blues senior side.

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What has Gael Kakuta said?

The Amiens midfielder spoke to SportBible about his time at Chelsea and detailed the reasons why he failed to live up to the significant hype around him.

“I think I’d still be at Chelsea today if things turned out like they were supposed to,” Kakuta admitted. “In fact, I'd have finished my career there.

“I remember after my first training session with the first-team, Ancelotti looked at me and just winked. I could tell my teammates were impressed by their facial expressions.

“There were lots of talented players who would come into first-team training and get very nervous. I wasn't like that at all.”

However, Kakuta believes an injury suffered after the U19 European Championship in 2010 - at which he won Player of the Tournament - was the main cause for his failure to live up to expectations at Chelsea.

“I had an injury that I didn’t treat properly,” Kakuta revealed. “I remember after I won the Euros with France, I came back to Chelsea.

"We played in a pre-season game against Hamburg. I got injured after the Euro final but I knew this was my moment to shine, because I finished as the tournament’s best player.

"To get that chance as a young player at Chelsea, especially at that time when the big names were there, was rare but I was injured.

“I trained and played injured. And I’m going to tell you something funny now. I still have the pain today. I tore a tendon muscle between the glute and the hamstring.

“I still struggle with my hamstring because it turned into a calcification, which scarred the tissue. You have to treat those things. It was only until afterwards that I found out," Kakuta continued.

“When you're young, you recover quick. And you just think, 'Oh, I'm fine' but it hurt my career.

“It's my fault. It would have only taken a few weeks to recover but I wanted to play so much that I carried on in pain. You're naive.”

Kakuta has played for 13 different clubs during a journeyman senior career and he made 22 appearances for Amiens in Ligue 2 last campaign, netting six goals and providing two assists.

However, his Chelsea career was cruelly disrupted by injury and the Blues were unable to fully reap the rewards of one of Europe’s most talented players.