West Ham close in on Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma
West Ham are closing in on completing a signing for Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma this summer, claims Gianluigi Longari.
The Italian journalist who works for Sportalia TV has reiterated that the Frenchman’s priority is to stay in the United Kingdom.
Chelsea were understood to be including him as a sweetener to land Sevilla’s Jules Kounde, but per The Daily Mail, he refused to be a part of that deal as he would prefer joining West Ham over a move to Sevilla.
Via his personal Twitter account, Longari said, “Zouma is coming closer to West Ham as his priority is to remain in the UK.
“If he goes to West Ham, Chelsea will try for Kounde without any player in between.
“Talks still on also with Sevilla but no official bid at the moment, only verbal.”
Fantastic
Given the player’s priority is to stay in the UK and with Chelsea looking to raise funds from his sale to buy Kounde, we expect this deal to go through pretty quickly should the two teams agree to a price.
We consolidated our initial interest by making a £20million enquiry which fell short of Chelsea’s valuation of the Frenchman. [Sky Sports]
The Daily Telegraph have reported that West Ham have been told to cough up £25million if they are to bring the defender to the London Stadium this summer.
For a player of Zouma’s calibre, we think that’s something the club should pounce on as defenders in today’s market often come at a premium.
The 26-year-old is a phenomenal aerial presence and will offer a threat to the opposition in both boxes.
We know that David Moyes has a penchant for tending to play a direct brand of football and relying on corners and free-kicks to score goals.
Zouma, at 6ft 2in, is the perfect one to put on the end of crosses in the dying stages of games when we’re chasing leads.
We also expect most corners to be directed towards him and Tomas Soucek, especially if we don’t sign a towering attacker.
Over to you now, GSB.
In other West Ham news, ‘No brainer’ – Pundit expects West Ham to sign ‘Amazing’ attacker on loan
Be sure to follow West Ham Zone on Facebook and Twitter for 24/7 updates on the Hammers and more exclusive interviews with Frank McAvennie