Ligue 1 Ace Set To Sign Five-Year Contract After Chelsea Agree €15m Deal

With the January transfer window entering it’s final stages 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, Kurt Zouma is set to join Chelsea.

Chelsea are set to make their third signing of the January transfer window after agreeing a €15m (£12.3m) deal with Saint Etienne for highly-rated centre-back Kurt Zouma, according to reports today.

The 19-year-old has been strongly linked with a move to the Premier League in recent transfer windows and has been hugely impressive since breaking in to the Saint Etienne first team in 2011, making 51 appearances so far.

Chelsea were soon installed as the favourites to land the powerful defender and speculation intensified after the youngster revealed last week that he’d spoken directly with Jose Mourinho about a switch 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.” Zouma is quoted as saying by ESPN

Further reports earlier this week suggested a deal was close between the Blues and Saint Etienne and it now appears the two clubs have finally agreed terms with the Mirror citing reports coming out of France that claim a €15m (£12.3m) deal has been struck.

RMC Sport suggest that Zouma will sign a five-year contract but will remain in France until the season before linking up with his new team mates in west London in the summer.

If these reports prove accurate, then Zouma will become Chelsea’s third major signing following the arrivals of Nemanja Matic from Benfica and Mohamed Salah fro FC Basel.

Mourinho has been tipped to bring in a young centre-back who can be a long-term replacement for the ageing John Terry. The skipper is out of contract at the end of the season and while he may yet sign a new short-term deal, at 33 the Blues need to think to the future and in Zouma they have one of the most promising defenders in Europe.

He is a strong, powerful player who should have no problem adapting to the physical nature of the Premier League. Although he has been known to take his aggression too far on occasion and has just return from a 10-match ban for breaking an opponents leg following an x-rated tackle earlier in the season.

READ MORE –> Chelsea transfer news

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