Gael Kakuta had a successful loan in the Eredivisie last season, and his reward is... doing it again, apparently:

OFFICIAL : #Vitesse have announced another agreement with Chelsea over a second loan spell for French striker Gael #Kakuta. #CFC — Francois Piraux (@F8Piraux) July 5, 2013

Kakuta's 22, and still has plenty left to offer, but we're some way past the point at which we'd expect him to break out and deliver on the ridiculous promise he showed at the under-18 level. There's hope, of course, but nobody's planning for him to become a superstar right now -- and that's the level he needs to be at to break into the Chelsea first team.

So while it's easy to see most loans as youth development, I'm not getting the same sort of vibe here. This is more of a holding pattern, giving Kakuta a chance to establish himself at some sort of level before the club decides what to do with him. In the best case scenario, he explodes and does some sort of Luke Skywalker fulfill-your-destiny think, but absent him turning out to be a Jedi, I think this is probably a matter of building up value before a sale.

Or maybe I'm just way too down on him.