I was Chelsea's top wonderkid - but they treated me like a reserve after I signed four-year deal

Former Chelsea player Gael Kakuta has spoken candidly about his underwhelming stint in Chelsea's first team after rising through the youth ranks 15 years ago. The DR Congo international, who was expected to have a promising future when he made his senior Blues debut against Wolves in November 2009 at 18, went on to play only 15 more games, failing to score in over 550 minutes of play.

Following loan spells to Fulham and Bolton, which failed to revive his career, Kakuta had further stints at French club Dijon, Dutch side Vitesse, Serie A's Lazio, and Spanish outfit Rayo Vallecano, all of which proved frustrating. Kakuta was eventually sold to Sevilla in 2015 but made only five appearances before moving to China.

The 32-year-old completed last season with Amiens 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.

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Reflecting on his career, which began at Stamford Bridge, Kakuta said: "I think I'd still be at Chelsea today if things turned out like they were supposed to," he admitted to . "In fact, I'd have finished my career there.

"I remember after my first training session with the first-team, [Carlo] 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."