Kurt Zouma has made 36 appearances for Chelsea last season, helping them to Champions League triumph and a fourth place finish in Premier League.
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Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma is edging closer to a move to West Ham United, according to various reports. The 26-year-old is in Paris for the last few days and will reportedly undergo medical in the French capital. Talks between the two London clubs have been going on for the last few weeks, with Zouma initially turning down a move to the London stadium. However, now it appears that the Frenchman could be David Moyes’ first permanent signing of the summer after losing his place in Thomas Tuchel’s side for a while.
According to transfer news from The Athletic, Zouma has agreed on personal terms over a move to West Ham and the deal would be worth around GBP 25 million. The Hammers had initially baulked at the 26-year-old’s GBP 125,000-a-week wage demands but then Moyes ensured they put full focus on negotiating a deal to bring in the Chelsea man.
If the move is completed, it would end Zouma’s seven-year stint with the Blues. He joined Chelsea in 2014 and enjoyed successful loan spells with Stoke in 2017-18 and Everton in 2018-19 after recovering from a serious knee injury. Meanwhile, in the previous season, he made 36 appearances helping the team to Champions League triumph and a fourth-place finish in the English Premier League.
However, the Frenchman hasn’t featured for Chelsea this season and finds himself being seen as a rotational option by head coach Tuchel. Moreover, Chelsea are reportedly looking to bring in Jules Kounde from Sevilla and therefore want to offload a central defender to make space for the 22-year-old. There are already six recognised central defenders in the squad and even the likes of Thiago Silva and Cesar Azpilicueta aren’t sure of a permanent place in the starting eleven.
On the other hand, West Ham had an impressive Premier League season in the last term, finishing just two points behind Chelsea. The east London club would be hoping to build on their success from the previous season and also have a Europa League campaign to look forward to.
Zouma is a reliable defender who can strengthen the West Ham defence and moreover he will get more game time under his belt. Therefore this could be a very good move for both West Ham and Zouma.
Meanwhile, the Stamford Bridge side continue to reportedly compete with Manchester United for Saul Niguez. The Spaniard wants to leave Atletico Madrid and the Red Devils looked likely to sign him.
The Telegraph has reported that the Blues are in talks with the Spanish side over the midfielder as the deal ‘has a chance’. It is learnt that they want to bring in the 26-year-old on loan for a year before making the move permanent.
Tuchel’s side has won the first two Premier League games and will face Liverpool on Saturday. They are in sublime form and look like the team to beat. The return of Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan has only strengthened the European champions.
