Arsenal
Mourinho Set To Beat Arsenal & Man Utd To £11m Defender Deal
Arsenal and Man Utd look to have missed out on the signing of one of Europes most highly-rated defenders with Chelsea set to seal an £11m deal this week.
With the January transfer window in full flow clubs are working hard to try and strengthen their squad for the second half of the season, so we’ll keep you up-to-date with all the latest news, gossip and rumours. Today, Chelsea close in on Kurt Zouma.
Chelsea are set to finally complete an £11m deal for Saint Etienne centre-back Kurt Zouma this week despite interest from Arsenal and Manchester United, according to the Express.
The Blues have been the big-spenders so far in the January window after signing Nemanja Matic from Benfica last week in a £21m deal and it seems they are ready to splash the cash once again.
Chelsea have been strongly linked with a move for Zouma in the past and reports just last week suggested that they were confident of winning the race for his signature.
The French under-21 international was quoted last week as saying that he had been in contact with Jose Mourinho about a potential switch and admitted he would jump at the chance of moving to Stamford Bridge:
“There was advanced contact last month,”
“At the start I thought it was a joke but afterwards I quickly took his call seriously.
“When a great man like Jose Mourinho calls a little player like Kurt Zouma, it’s nice. It doesn’t happen every day and it’s a big sign of respect and confidence.”
“If you tell me to go to Chelsea, I’ll go there immediately! Especially after the call from the coach. It’s given me ideas.” Zouma is quoted as saying by ESPN
It seems the 19-year-old is about to get his wish with the Express reporting that the west Londoners are set to complete the move this week and will pay Saint Etienne £11m for the powerful centre-back.
The newspaper states that Chelsea have beaten off competition from Arsenal and Manchester United to land one of the most highly-rated defenders in France, with the duo also believed to have been keeping tabs on the player.
While Zouma is no doubt considered as a huge talent, he drew criticism in his homeland following a horror tackle on Sochaux midfielder Thomas Guerbert earlier in the season that broke the players leg. Zouma was slapped with a 10-game ban for this incident but returned to action with a late substitute appearance against Lille on Friday.
With John Terry’s future uncertain, it looks like Mourinho is planning for the future and Zouma is likely to be a long-term replacement for the Blues skipper.
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