Gael Kakuta has been angling for a move away from Stamford Bridge all summer.
The recently-turned 21 year-old playmaker finished last season on loan at Dijon in the French league and spoke of his desire to have a concrete future going into the 2012-13 season.
He spent pre-season with the Chelsea first team but with a number of high-profile attacking players signed by Roberto Di Matteo, it’s obvious that he will need to find his football elsewhere this campaign.
A mooted move to Olympiacos was rejected, whilst Marseille have been heavily linked, but an interesting yet familiar name has emerged this evening as potential suitors.
The Blues have a close relationship with Dutch outfit Vitesse, mainly due to the friendship between respective chairmen Roman Abramovich and Merab Jordania. In recent years a host of young Blues have gone to Arnhem on loan, from Slobodan Rajkovic, Matej Delac, Nemanja Matic and Ulises Dávila to the current exciting pair of Patrick van Aanholt and Tomas Kalas.
Foot Mercato in France have this evening reported that a deal has been struck for Kakuta to head there, although the player himself will need to agree to the move as well.
It’s unexpected, and whilst Foot Mercato aren’t perhaps the biggest of names and are quite prolific in their rumours, they are on the ball with the volume of news and it’s worth listening to at the very least. There would potentially be some controversy too, with Dutch clubs encouraged not to take more than two players on loan from a foreign team (it’s an old rule which acts more as a gentleman’s agreement these days).
For more on this story, follow @chelseayouth on Twitter throughout tonight and transfer deadline weekend across Europe. Thanks also to Leon Barbiers for the heads-up on the story.