Kakuta mentor: Gael will be shocked by Chelsea controversy

The former mentor of Gael Kakuta says the French youngster will be shocked by the transfer controversy now surrounding his move to Chelsea.

Gregory Daudus found Kakuta as a six-year-old in the streets in the impoverished Moulins region of southern Lille, where his family live.

And he told The Sun: "Part of my job is to try to get the youngsters off the streets and inviting them to play for a proper team is a good way to do that.

"I worked with Gael until he was eight and he went on to play for the Lens Academy teams and for the French Federation junior teams. He was such a skilful boy and he was so driven to improve life for his family.

"He would often talk about how life was so hard for his mum and brothers and sisters.

"I never met his parents - he did not talk about his father and neither of them came to watch. He would turn up alone, get changed, and play like his life depended on it.

"Gael would train or play for us for several hours but when I was driving home I would still see him kicking a ball against a wall at 10 at night.

"That is how determined he was and, of course, he was the best young player I have ever worked with.

"But I feel he would not have understood that he was causing problems when he signed for Chelsea at 16. He was too young to think what it all meant. The agents and money men would have organised the deal and told Gael that if he went to play in England, his family's money worries would be over.

"They would have turned his head - after all, what young footballer would not want to play for a huge, super-rich club like Chelsea?

"This uproar over his transfer will come as a terrible shock to him."

 
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