:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63651428/148957050.0.jpg)
Todd Kane has viewed football through the lens of Chelsea for most of his life, joining the club as an under-8 prospect 18 years ago. But since 2011, Chelsea have not been his “home”, even if he technically was a Chelsea player.
The once promising right-back is now a 25-year-old on his eighth loan deal, representing Hull City at the Championship. He has done well for the Tigers, picking up 35 league starts in their attempt to reach the promotion playoffs, but that does not mean he has his future figured out yet.
His Chelsea contract will come to an end two months from now, and nothing is set after that.
“We’ll see what’s happening at Chelsea before anything. I don’t know exactly what’s going on, whether they have an extension or anything. I’ve had a thought about my future but it’s out of my hands at the moment. I’ve got these three games to focus on, I’ll get away on holiday and rest, then wherever I’m going to be, I actually don’t know.
“But my phone will be on so if someone wants to come and buy me, I’d have a conversation and I’m very open to offers.”
Kane has spent most of his professional career in England, with only two loan spells in the Netherlands. But the location itself matters less than the ability to settle somewhere, anywhere. Like many before him, he has grown tired of the loan army life and wants out.
“I don’t know where I’ll be living and that’s horrible. I’m getting to the stage where I want to settle. It’s difficult. I’m very open to going abroad. Whatever’s the best pathway, I’m open.”
Kante, who was there in Munich on that May evening in 2012 as part of the traveling squad and emergency reserves has come close to getting a shot at Chelsea only a few times since. The last of those came three years ago, when he was set for a proper chance under incoming new coach Antonio Conte, but a major knee injury at the end of the previous Eredivise season at NEC Nijmegen completely derailed that potential future.
“It’s a difficult situation [with Chelsea]. I’ve been there since eight years of age, being a professional all these years.
“At the time I was led to believe I was going to be involved, I got a bad injury two games before the end of the [2015-16] season and that got took away from me. Now, two years down the line, I’ve got to take a different pathway.
“I’ve got to give my all to get a contract somewhere, whether that’s at Chelsea or anywhere else.”
-Todd Kane; Source: Hull Daily Mail
Even if Chelsea remain banned from making any new signings, Kane’s future probably lies elsewhere. He’ll join a long line of once promising prospects in that regard, an unfortunate but very familiar outcome.