TOMAS KALAS is hoping to make up for lost time after forcing his way into Middlesbrough’s starting line-up a matter of hours after completing a loan move from Chelsea.

Kalas’ switch from Stamford Bridge was confirmed on Friday afternoon, and less than 24 hours later, the 21-year-old defender was making his Middlesbrough debut in a goalless draw with Reading.

The whirlwind weekend was a marked contrast to his loan spell in the first half of the season, which saw him fail to make a single appearance for Cologne, despite having initially signed for the Bundesliga club for the whole of the campaign.

His spell in Germany was cut short in late December, and having agreed to move to Teesside within days of being released back to Chelsea, the Czech Republic under-21 international is keen to get his career back on track.

“In the last year and a half, I can count the number of games I have played on one hand,” said Kalas, who is set to retain his place at right-back when Middlesbrough entertain Huddersfield Town this weekend. “There weren’t many, so I hope this is the start of a better future.

“It didn’t go the way I would have wanted (at Cologne). I had zero games and zero minutes. I’m just pleased it’s over to be honest – everyone can imagine what it was like for a player who wasn’t playing and who wants to play. I went there on loan to play, but it didn’t work out well.

“I hope the fact I played the first game here is a sign of things to come. It’s a good start and hopefully I can improve myself. I always try to improve myself with the training side of things, but it is very hard to do that if you are not playing games.”

Kalas turned down an offer to move to Middlesbrough in the summer in order to join Cologne, and with hindsight, the youngster admits it was a mistake to rebuff Aitor Karanka and head to Germany instead.

Last week’s switch came a few days after Jamal Blackman returned to Stamford Bridge, but Kalas still finds himself as the third Chelsea loanee on Middlesbrough’s books, with Kenneth Omeruo and Patrick Bamford having made major contributions to the season so far.

Jose Mourinho’s relationship with Karanka – the pair worked alongside each other at Real Madrid - is clearly a major factor in Chelsea’s desire to send so many of their young players to Teesside, but Kalas insists there is more to the links between the two clubs than the friendship between the figures at the head of the respective coaching teams.

“I think the people at Chelsea like what Middlesbrough do,” he said. “I’d already heard about Middlesbrough because I could have come here before, but I chose to go to Germany instead. That didn’t go as well as I thought it would, but it meant that when Middlesbrough were interested again, I already knew what the club was all about.

“Kenneth is here in his second year and has done very well, and Patrick is here too after his successful loans. That just shows you that the people at Chelsea must be really pleased with the way Middlesbrough improve their players. It was in my mind to come here, and it quickly became clear that it was also in Chelsea’s minds too.”

Having agreed to move to Middlesbrough, Kalas spent New Year’s Eve flying from his native Czech Republic in order to ensure he was ready to slot straight into the first team once his registration was confirmed.

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He spent most of last week training with the first-team squad, with his settling-in process having been eased by the presence of Omeruo and Bamford, who are former team mates from the youth team at Stamford Bridge.

“When I came, I already knew some people, so that made it easier to settle in,” said Kalas, who sees his long-term future at centre-half even though he is happy to be playing at right-back at the moment. “You have people who you can ask about training, or the game day, or even just about the food. It’s been helpful that Patrick and Kenneth are here.

“The guys and the staff have been very friendly and helpful, and the team is a real team. It can be a cliché when you say that a team is all together, but here that is definitely the case. All the guys are together and it’s like a big family. Hopefully we will keep that feeling.”