Official: Amin Affane heads to Roda JC on loan

It's been rumored for several weeks now, but today the news was made official. Amin Affane will be heading to the Eredivisie to join Roda JC for the remainder of this season. Affane become the fourth Chelsea player to join the ranks of the Dutch League, and hopefully he'll be seeing considerable playing time. Here's the relevant portion of the announcement:

The left-footed attacker is rented for a season, and Roda JC has a unilateral option for him to contract.

The unilateral option is the interesting, and it's probably not what you think. Affane is in the last season of his Chelsea contract, so it's probably not a straight option to buy. It's also not likely an option of first refusal, as Chelsea wouldn't be able to sell a player out of contract anyway. Most likely the club will not be clarifying it for us, so we'll be left guessing for the foreseeable future.

Regardless, Affane is a nice player, but it's hard to see him fitting into the long term picture here at Chelsea. With all of the young options on the wings that we have, I'm not entirely sure that it would be in Affane's best interest to renew his contract here. We'll wish him the best of luck in his season abroad, and we'll watch to see how Chelsea handle his contract situation as well. Have fun Amin, this should be a great experience.