After spending the last one and a half seasons on loan at Middlesbrough, young Czech defender Tomas Kalas is now set to embark on yet another loan adventure in the second tier of English football. This time around however, Kalas will remain a little closer to home-base.
Tomas Kalas has this evening joined Fulham on a season-long loan... https://t.co/mIBpBK4MiG
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) July 13, 2016
The choice of Fulham comes as a bit of a surprise, given recent words from Kalas' agent, who claimed that Middlesbrough were interested in retaining the services of the defender for yet another season.
"Kalas wants to stay in England next season, preferably in the Premier League."
"He is happy at Chelsea but Middlesbrough are interested."
- Mithat Halis, source: Gazette Live
The move could be seen as a bit of a disappointment for the player, who will now miss out on moving up to the Premier League with Middlesbrough and spend some more time in the Championship. Despite a starring role for Boro at the beginning of last season, as well in their glorious League Cup run that included a win over Manchester United, Kalas eventually lost his starting spot to the more tenacious Emilio Nsue Lopez and ended up making only 19 league starts (out of 46 games).
Hopefully, the 23-year-old will earn more minutes at Fulham than he did at Teesside, and who knows, perhaps help his loan club to a Premier League promotion once more.