Defender’s agent confirms talks as Hull City start to use Chelsea connections

Tomáš Kalas seems to be nearing the end of his six-year career as a Chelsea player. After loans to the Netherlands, Germany and more recently the Championship, the 24-year-old has one year left on his deal and is set to move on this summer.

He impressed last season at Slaviša Jokanović’s Fulham, who made the promotion play-offs — arguably their best defender for the season — and according to his agent Viktor Kolář, Chelsea’s next-door neighbours are just one of the clubs that are looking to sign him on a permanent basis next season. To no surprise, Hull City, who recently appointed Roman Abramovich’s friend Leonid Slutsky as manager, have also thrown their hat into the ring.

"I can confirm that Hull are interested in Tomas Kalas, but his future is still being solved. More clubs have Tomas under radar, but now we have to decide which option will be the best. But he will certainly remain in England."

- Viktor Kolář; source: Football.London

Slutsky himself addressed the possibility of loaning players from Chelsea to help bolster a rapidly depleting Hull City squad in a lengthy interview with Russian outlet, Sport Express (which makes for informative reading if you’re willing to overlook the shortcomings of a raw Google Translate translation)

“It (loaning players from Chelsea) is not that simple. On one hand, players who could strengthen Hull want other clubs, including those in the Premier League. We also do not particularly want very young players who are playing somewhere in the lower levels. Naturally, it is possible that some Chelsea players can be with us on loan in the same way Fulham loaned two Chelsea players this season - defender Tomas Kalas and midfielder Lucas Piazon. Also Huddersfield, who are today in the Premier League, played midfielders Kasey Palmer and Isaiah Brown. It is a normal practice and I do not exclude that the same will happen here, but I do not rule out that there will be other players.”

- Leonid Slutsky; source: Sport Express

According to the latest EFL Rules, a Championship club can loan a maximum of four players from another club, while a no more than five loanees can be named in a match-day squad of 18. Given these restrictions, one would expect Hull to perhaps loan a couple of players from Chelsea and Slutsky has made it clear that he’s looking for players who are comfortable at the Championship level — Tomáš Kalas would certainly fit that bill, but so would many others.