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Officially official: Chelsea finally complete Bertrand Traore signing

It's taken a while, but the talented youngster from Burkina Faso is now officially, in every conceivable way, a Chelsea player.

Stanley Chou

The transfer window officially opened a few hours ago and we have our first catch of the day already. But really, it's just a bit of administrative dotting of the i's and crossing of the t's.

The 18-year-old agreed to sign a four-and-a-half year contract with the club back in October, and with the opening of the January transfer window, he makes the switch from Association Jeunes Espoirs De Bobo-Dioulasso in his native Burkina Faso.

-source: Chelsea FC

If you log in to Chelsea TV, you can actually watch Bertrand's first interview. He speaks very good English, as you would expect from someone who has spent a decent portion of his formative years in England.

"I can now say I am living a dream."

-Bertrand Traoré; source: Chelsea FC

So, Traoré joins the ever-growing conga line of attacking midfielders at Chelsea. He was impressive in his limited appearances during our preseason Tour of Asia and his prospects look excellent.

But now comes the tricky part: nurturing that talent, ensuring that it grows properly and to its full potential. A loan is probably in order and having been awarded a work permit (if the Daily Mail is to be believed), it's likely that a Championship club may yet become the first team to enjoy first-hand the talents of the 18-year-old.

On this occasion, let us relive the highlights from his debut vs. Malaysia XI:

And from the 45 minutes that he played vs. Indonesia All-Stars:

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