"Chelsea Ignored Warnings About Poaching Talent"

When Chelsea dangled its wealth and star players in front of him, Gael Kakuta did what any teenage footballing prodigy from a modest background might do: He lost his head. The contract he had signed with the French club that nurtured him from age 8 was cast aside. For that, Kakuta and Chelsea are now paying a very heavy price.''He cracked, as one would crack for a pretty woman,'' says Eric Assadourian, who coached the preciously talented and swift Kakuta before Chelsea snapped him up at age 16. ''He fell -- quote, unquote -- in love. It was a bolt of lightning.''''Meeting (Michael) Ballack, (Didier) Drogba and the others, it was his dream,'' adds Assadourian, referring to Chelsea's star-studded lineup. ''It was very tough to hold him back.''In punishing Chelsea for allegedly luring the youngster away from French side Lens, football's guardians at governing body FIFA are sending a powerful warning to the giants of the game in England and elsewhere that their wealth and clout doesn't give them license to do whatever they please.However harshly Chelsea feels it has been treated, the more important principle is that teams -- from the grass roots up -- must be adequately rewarded for the time and money they invest in rearing football's players of tomorrow. Lens, a modest first-division club in France's industrial north, spends richly on training young players and can't afford to see them simply walk out the door.