Chelsea add to loan list on final days

As the January transfer window slams shut there are a few more players that have moved out on loan that need to be covered and to discuss their possible future.

First to discuss is Billy Clifford. On the back of a decent loan spell last season at Colchester United it was hoped that Clifford would kick on and move up a level this season. At the start of the season he joined Championship club Yeovil and it looked like the perfect opportunity for him to push on. However unfortunately for Clifford it did not work out and he would only make 1 appearance for the club before being recalled back to Chelsea where he has made a few appearances for the U21's side.

A talented young man with very good ball skills and a good attitude to go with it, it has been surprising that a new loan move has not been found for the 21 year old. Now however that move has been made and surprisingly it is outside of the English football league. Billy will spend the rest of the season at Belgian second division side Royal Antwerp who are currently managed by former Chelsea favorite Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

There has to be question marks over the standard of football that he will play in the Belgian second division and also what this will mean for his future. I think Billy is a player that we can say will not be having a future in first team squad but we will be looking to do is to find a future for him somewhere and he needs to get some games under his belt. It will be interesting to see how this loan works for him and where it will take him and only time will show us that.

A player who has left the club for good is 18 year old defender Jonathan Muleba who has been the U18's captain this season. Muleba was an interesting one as he had yet to kick on to the U21's when players around him had already made that step, it was obviously made harder by the fact that he had players like Ake, Christensen and Davey ahead of him in the pecking order but it seems that the decision has been made that his future lies elsewhere. Muleba is a talented young man and i am sure he will carve himself out a career starting at his new club AFC Bournemouth.

Another Chelsea player who has been loaned out in Belgium is Lamisha Musonda who has been loaned to KV Mechelen for the remainder of the season. Lamisha is the older of the three Musonda brothers on Chelsea's books and Lamisha and his brother Tika were brought in as "sweeteners" in the deal for Chelsea's top target the younger Musonda, Charly.

Lamisha, now 21 years old, is another player who will looking to make a career away from Chelsea and this is loan is the start of that process you feel with possibly a permanent move in the summer. Lamish is a solid midfield player but not to the standard that is expected of Chelsea Academy players now.

We also have a new player joining the club and the loan ranks in the form of Kurt Zouma, the signing has already been covered on ChelseaDaft so I won't go into the details but the player will stay at St Etienne for the rest of the season and his progress will be monitored by myself on this blog.

There was news also but without any confirmation from Chelsea that we have signed 18 year old mifielder Mario Pasalic from Hajduk Split. I know very little of the player but he broke into the Hajduk first team last season and it is believed that he will make his senior international debut soon too. Pasalic will spend the rest of the season at Hajduk.

Finally and probably the biggest loan move of the last few days is Gael Kakuta who has joined Lazio on loan for the rest of the season. Kakuta's story has been well documented in the press over the last few weeks since returning from Vitesse where he has struggled to cement a place in the team with the likes of Piazon, Astsu and now Traore keeping him out of the side.

It is very likely like Kakuta will be moving on to somewhere next season and leaving Chelsea for good which is a real shame for a player that had as much potential as anyone i have seen at that age (although Boga arguably is better) but since going out on loan he has really struggled to make a name for himself and there has been question marks over his attitude and application.

Any more loan moves now will only be short term deals but there is certainly plenty of scope to take the number of Chelsea loan players over the 30 mark for the season.