I regret signing a four-year deal with Chelsea - I was treated like a reserve player

Former Chelsea attacker Gael Kaktua has opened up on his disappointing spell in Chelsea’s senior side after breaking through the youth ranks 15 years ago.

The DR Congo international was tipped for a bright future when he was given his senior Blues debut against Wolves in November 2009, aged 18, but he would only go on to play 15 more matches, failing to score in more than 550 minutes of action.

Subsequent loan spells to Fulham and Bolton could not ultimately get his Chelsea career back on track, with further stints out at French club Dijon, Dutch outfit Vitesse, Serie A stalwarts Lazio, and Spanish side Rayo Vallecano also providing frustration.

Kakuta was eventually sold to Sevilla in 2015 but made just five appearances before moving to China. The 32-year-old has just completed the season with Ameins in the French second tier, scoring six times in 22 outings.

He also played in four of DR Congo’s games at the Africa Cup of Nations this year, where the team reached the semi-finals before losing to the Ivory Coast. Kakuta has been reflecting back on his career, which all started at Stamford Bridge.

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

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“I remember after my first training session with the first-team, [Carlo] Ancelotti looked at me and just winked. I could tell my teammates were impressed by their facial expressions. At the time, I was thinking, "Okay, now this is serious.

“Before that, I was just enjoying it. It's not that I wasn't taking it seriously but people were putting too much pressure on the guys. There were lots of talented players who would come into first-team training and get very nervous. I wasn't like that at all.”

After that first-team debut against Wolves, he would play a game each in the Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup for the rest of the season. In 2010, he signed a fresh deal with Chelsea, but things took a downturn pretty sharply.

Kakuta has indicated that he regretted signing that new contract, feeling as though he was not treated like a first-team member despite his lucrative terms. In the 2010/11 season, he was struggling for consistent game time, playing just 119 minutes across five games before securing the aforementioned January move to Fulham.

Kakuta explained: “We played in a cup game against Newcastle United [for Chelsea in September 2010] and I was blowing after about three minutes. I was thinking, ‘How is that possible?’

“Then I got kicked on my back and I couldn't move. After that I needed to put more work into my fitness levels but realistically it was too late. At that level, it's too late.

“I was very naive to sign that four-year contract. Instead of renewing, I should have left for another team that would have treated me like a first-team player rather than a youngster who came to the first team.”