Gaël Kakuta

Gaël Romeo Kakuta Mambenga (born 21 June 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for club Amiens.

Born in France, he represents the DR Congo national team.

In 1999, he joined Lens as a youth player, and spent five years there.

In 2004, Kakuta was selected to attend the Centre de Préformation de Football in nearby Liévin, a training center exclusively for players brought up in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region.

He spent two years at the center training there during the weekdays and playing with Lens on the weekends.

One of his trainers at the facility was former Polish international Joachim Marx.

A youth product of RC Lens, Kakuta moved to Chelsea in 2007 in a controversial transfer.

Kakuta moved to Chelsea in 2007 and became a player for the youth team.

He impressed at Chelsea after his first reserve game alongside teammate Michael Ballack.

The German international told journalists, "Go see the French lad, he is the star".

Kakuta soon began to flourish earning the Academy Scholar of the Year award after his first season with Chelsea.

He was also voted Academy Player of the Year after finishing as the top scorer in the youth side finishing his first Chelsea season with 12 goals in 24 appearances.

This included a hat trick against Port Vale in the FA Youth Cup.

For the 2008–09 season, Kakuta was given the opportunity to train with the first team, though he was still limited to playing with the club's reserve team.

On 3 September 2009, it was announced by the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber, that Kakuta would be banned for four months and be fined €780,000 due to a breach of contract with his old club Lens in order to sign for Chelsea in the summer of 2007.

In February 2009, Kakuta saw his progress come to a shuddering halt when he suffered a double ankle fracture in a friendly against the Glenn Hoddle Academy.

Kakuta missed six months returning to the team in August for a youth game against local side Queens Park Rangers.

On 1 September 2009, Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti added Kakuta to his Champions League squad.

Kakuta made his much anticipated Premier League debut during a home match against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 21 November 2009 as a substitute replacing Nicolas Anelka on the hour, impressing largely with his tricks, skills, pace and enthusiasm.

On 2 December 2009, he came on as a half-time substitute for Joe Cole during the quarter-final match of the League Cup against Blackburn Rovers losing on penalties when he missed the decisive penalty in the shoot-out.

On 8 December 2009, he made his Champions League debut against APOEL.

He became the youngest Chelsea player to ever represent the club in the Champions League.

He played 73 minutes before being substituted for Fabio Borini.

The match ended in a 2–2 draw.

Carlo Ancelotti was not satisfied with the team's performance but was very positive about the French youth international: "We had no intensity and no concentration, it was a very bad game from us. The only positive of the night was Gaël Kakuta. He played very well, he showed his fantastic talent. He trains very well everyday and will be the future of Chelsea."

Chelsea's transfer ban was suspended later in the same year, and was lifted in February 2010.

On 11 September 2010, he played his second Premier League game for Chelsea in a derby against West Ham United, coming on as a substitute for Nicolas Anelka in the 76th minute.

Kakuta also made an appearance in the Champions League match against MSK Zilina on 15 September 2010.

On 22 September, Kakuta started a match in the League Cup and coming off at halftime in a match which ended 4–3 to Newcastle.

Chelsea were also banned from signing any players in the next two transfer windows due to their involvement in inducing the player to break his contract at Lens, meaning they would have been unable to buy or sell players until January 2011.

Further to this they received a €130,000 fine, payable to Lens.

The club stated that they would "mount the strongest appeal possible" and described the behavior of FIFA as "extraordinarily arbitrary decision".

Chelsea believed "the sanctions are without precedent to this level and totally disproportionate to the alleged offense and the financial penalty imposed".

Chelsea appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who subsequently lifted the sanctions on the club and the player after ruling that Kakuta did not have a valid contract with Lens, and therefore could not have breached it.

Rarely used at Chelsea, he was loaned to six teams in five countries before leaving for Sevilla upon the expiration of his contract in 2015.

He was a French youth international and represented the nation at every age group from under-16 to under-21 levels, before switching allegiance to the DR Congo national team in 2017.

Kakuta was born in Lille, Nord.

He started playing football at the age of seven, after seeing his uncle play for the reserve team of Lille.

He began his career with local club US Lille-Moulins.

In his first match with the club, they lost 17–1, however, the defeat was not enough to put him off.