Chelsea acted properly in Kakuta deal, insists scout
CHELSEA’S French scout has defended the club’s conduct in the controversial signing of youngster Gael Kakuta.
The Blues were this month banned from signing players until 2011 after Kakuta’s former club Lens complained to governing body Fifa that the Premier League club had induced him to break his contract.
But Guy Hillion, who spotted and helped recruit Kakuta in 2007, insists the player’s mother had unwittingly misled Chelsea about the midfielder’s ties to Lens.
“When we started to talk about a possible move to Chelsea, we asked her if she ever signed anything with Lens,” said Hillion.
“She promised she had signed nothing, nothing at all. Six months later, sorting out her papers, she found a pre-contract. She didn’t even know what it was.”
The Blues are appealing Fifa’s verdict and hope to overturn the ban.
Midfield duo Joe Cole and Yuri Zhirkov, meanwhile, are set to make their first starts of the season in tonight’s Carling Cup clash with QPR.
England star Cole has been out since January with knee ligament damage while £18m summer signing Zhirkov has also suffered with the same joint.