Tomas Kalas sent out on season long loan

About two weeks ago a rumor popped up that Tomas Kalas was heading out on loan to Vitesse Arnhem.  After reading the article I've linked, I sort of laughed this one off as a perfect example of how rumors tend to start in the age of the internet.  The article was pretty poorly written and the "interview" was all of two sentences long. These guys seem to have nailed it on this one though, as this morning Tomas Kalas was presented by Vitesse Arnhem after arriving on a season long loan.  

Depth at the center of the defense was a real strength at the beginning of the summer, with John Terry, David Luiz, Alex, Branislav Ivanovic, Slobodan Rajkovic, Michael Mancienne, and Jeffrey Bruma all ahead of Kalas on the depth chart.  Since that time Bruma has been loaned to Hamburg, Mancienne was deemed not up to standards, and Rajkovic has been reportedly been denied a work permit and sold.  I'm starting to wonder about the legitimacy of the Rajkovic story though, as the Kalas move would indicate to me that we don't have a need for Kalas here at the moment.  It's yet to be confirmed on either the Hamburg or Chelsea websites and the rumored price seemed to be far too low, so I've got my fingers crossed that someone simply jumped the gun in reporting that one.

If Rajkovic has indeed been sold, I'd guess this loan would pretty much rubbish any rumors surrounding Alex.  I just don't see any way that he could be sold with the amount of depth we've loaned out unless Rajkovic was around to replace him.  Regardless of the Rajkovic or Alex situations though, this will be a great chance for Kalas to showcase his skills on a weekly basis.  Vitesse has been pretty good about playing the guys we loan them, and Kalas will get to see better talent than he will in the reserves while in Holland.  Here's hoping that the loan goes well for him and he's ready to factor into the first team on his return next summer.