Chelsea confirm midfield star set for Spanish loan

It's been long rumored that new Chelsea signing Mario Pasalic was heading to Spain this season on loan, and on Tuesday, the club confirmed his destination. The Croatian midfielder will be spending the 2014/15 season with Elche, who finished just above the relegation zone in La Liga last season.

Frankly, Elche are a pretty poor team in on of the elite leagues on the planet, so Pasalic should have plenty of minutes this season against the type of talent he'd see in the Premier League if he makes that jump in the future. It will be a good experience for the kid, and it will give Chelsea fans a reasonable chance to see him in action with some regularity.

Though this is a huge step up in class from what Pasalic has seen in the past, I really like this move. Hopefully everything goes swimmingly for him in Spain, and we're talking about challenging for a first team place at this time next season.