The Democratic Republic of Congo has called up Gael Kakuta as a replacement for the Africa Cup of Nations finals after injury ruled out the uncapped Mario Stroeykens.
The 34-year-old Kakuta, formerly a teenage prodigy at Chelsea but now playing club football in the second tier of the Turkish league, has not played for the Congolese for the past 15 months but after Stroeykens hurt his knee playing for Anderlecht in the Belgian league at the weekend received a surprise call-up.
French-born Kakuta will play at a second Cup of Nations with DR Congo competing in Group D along with Benin, Botswana and top seeds Senegal.
He was in the squad at the last finals in the Ivory Coast where DR Congo lost to South Africa in the third-place play-off.
Kakuta featured for France’s youth teams all the way up to Under 21 level, however, became a DR Congo international back in 2017.
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Chelsea received a transfer ban from FIFA in 2009 after snatching him from French club Racing Lens but it was lifted after a ruling that Kakuta did not have a valid contract with Lens when he was signed.
Kakuta spent eight years at Chelsea, eventually leaving the club in 2015, but he only made six appearances for the first team.
He had six loan spells, ultimately joined Sevilla in 2015, where he remained for just one season.
He has moved around frequently since, playing for 27 different clubs in his career, the latest of which is Sakaryspor.