Chelsea have opened new contract talks with French striker Gael Kakuta.
Kakuta's current deal runs out at the end of the season, but coach Carlo Ancelotti wants to keep him at Stamford Bridge and a five-year extension is close to being agreed, says the London Evening Standard.
Ancelotti sees Kakuta, who was named player of the tournament after helping France win the European Under-19 Championships this summer, as key to his plans for the squad.
He said: "Now he is first team, he will have the same opportunity as the other players and he deserves to play because he trained well, he is focused and concentrated. He will play and we now have to consider him not a young player but a player in the first team."
