16 year old Chelsea player Bertrand Traore will be called up to the African Cup of Nations

Traore joined Chelsea this past year from the Auxerre academy in France despite heavy interest from clubs like Barcelona and Manchester United. He's yet to make any sort of appearances for the club but he's already made an appearance for the Burkina Faso national team during qualification for the ACoN. It appears that the national team coach really rates him highly, as he's been named in the final 23 man squad that will participate in the ACoN.

The 5'11" midfielder is still a long way from the Chelsea first team, but it does speak to his immense potential that his national side is already including him in the squad even if he'll have very little impact on the pitch. I doubt this is the manager doing anything more than getting the youngster some exposure, but the fact that he's currently this highly rated in his homeland really makes me look forward to his Chelsea debut even more. Teammates Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou will be joining him at the ACoN this month. Michael Essien will likely miss the tournament while recovering from his injury and John Obi Mikel's Nigeria side failed to qualify. Best of luck Bertrand, hopefully you manage to get a few minutes on the pitch.