Chelsea’s teenage central defender Tomas Kalas has this afternoon joined Eredivisie outfit Vitesse Arnhem on a season-long loan.
The Dutch club have confirmed the move on their official website and will officially present the player later on Monday.
Kalas, 18, signed for the Blues last summer but only arrived in England in January of 2011 after spending the first half of the campaign with his former club Sigma Olomouc, for whom he made four first-team appearances.
Upon his arrival at Chelsea, Tomas slotted into the reserve team setup whilst also playing a big part in the club’s progress to the FA Youth Cup Semi Final.
During pre-season, he was involved in Andre Villas-Boas’ first team plans and impressed in a friendly away to Portsmouth but missed the tour of Asia to represent his country at the European Under-19 Championships.
He finished a losing finalist with the Czech Republic but earned rave reviews for his performances en route to the final, where they lost to Spain in extra time.
Tomas is a classy, footballing central defender who is exceptionally agile and quick across the ground. He’s not afraid to get involved and competes well in the air, whilst he also has a preference to launch quick attacks with raking long-distance passes.
He becomes the fourth Chelsea player to be loaned to Vitesse, following the trails of Matej Delac, Nemanja Matic and Slobodan Rajkovic last season, as the two clubs continue a relationship built between their respective owners Roman Abramovich and Merab Jordania.
The Arnhem club have started the season in impressive form with a youthful looking side featuring exciting teenage Georgian talent Giorgi Chanturia, who has previously been linked with Chelsea.