Matej Delac

Date of birth: 20 August 1992
Place of birth: Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje, Bosnia  and Herzegovina
Position:  Goalkeeper
Nationality: Croatian
Previous clubs: Inter Zapresic
International levels played at: Croatia Under-21s, Croatia Under-20s, Croatia youth

The goalkeeper's arrival was announced on 1 September 2010, though he was promptly loaned out to Vitesse Arnhem in Holland, joining up with fellow Chelsea youngsters, the Serbian pair of Slobodan Rajkovic and Nemanja Matic.

That brought him back to Cobham with a desire for first-team football, and so a loan move to Czech top division side SK Dynamo Ceske Budejovice, where he made five appearances, was agreed for the 2011/12 season.

He went on loan to Vitoria Guimaraes at the start of the 2012/13 season in Portugal before returning on loan at his former club, Inter Zapresic in Croatia. There he finished the 2012/13 season 10th in the top flight out of 12 teams.

He spent the first half of the 2013/14 season on loan at FK Vojvodina in Serbia, making 18 appearances. In January 2014 he moved to FK Sarajevo in Bosnia on loan until the end of the season and made seven appearances.

A new loan, this time to Arles-Avignon who play in France’s Ligue 2, began on 1 September 2014 before a return to Sarajevo for a second loan spell in February 2015.

Pre-Chelsea

Delac had earlier signed a pre-contract agreement to join Chelsea from Inter Zapresic, where he had already become first-choice goalkeeper despite his tender years.

International

Delac has represented the Croatia national side at every age group from Under-15s up to Under-21s. He was called into the senior squad by Slaven Bilic in August 2009 for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers against England and Belarus, breaking the record for the youngest Croatian ever called up for international duty.