Chelsea agree £12.5m fee for St Etienne wonderkid Zouma

Jose Mourinho is closing in on his fourth acquisition of the transfer window with Kurt Zouma set to sign from St Etienne.
Chelsea have agreed a fee in the region of £12.5million for the 19-year-old centre-half who will stay in France for the rest of the season.
Zouma has been closely monitored by several Barclays Premier League clubs despite being banned for 10 games in November for a tackle which left Thomas Guerbert with a broken leg and dislocated ankle.

Confident: Chelsea have agreed a fee with St Etienne for promising centre half Kurt Zouma

On the ball: Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has been eager to add young talent to his squad and made a personal call to the teenager

Mourinho made a personal call to the teenager to convince him to come to London and Chelsea were able to improve their original offer of £10m and clinch a deal, flush with the cash from the sales of Juan Mata and Kevin de Bruyne.
The year started with Mourinho insisting he could not foresee any transfers in or out of Stamford Bridge this month but has already signed Nemanja Matic, Mohamed Salah and Bertrand Traore.
Zouma’s imminent arrival will raise questions over the futures of established central defenders David Luiz and John Terry.
Mourinho has made no secret of the fact he would like to keep Terry but fears he could lose his captain because of the strict club policy to offer one-year contract extensions to all players over 30.

 

Acrobatic: Zouma is an athletic player with caps at all youth levels for France, plus a call up to the senior side

 

Blue no more? The signing will raise doubts over the futures of John Terry (left) and David Luiz (right)

Terry, who is already free to talk to clubs outside England, is expected to have far more lucrative and longer offers on the table than the one from Stamford Bridge.
Luiz is in a different situation because he has been unable to force his way into Mourinho’s preferred back four and is in demand from some of the biggest clubs in Europe.
Barcelona and Bayern Munich have long-standing interest in the Brazilian, who would command a big fee, which in turn would help finance Chelsea’s quest for a world-class centre forward in the summer.
Zouma will fall into the category of one for the future, although he has plenty of experience in the French top flight having broken into the St Etienne team at the age of 17.
He is quick and strong and was a key part of the France side which won the Under 20 World Cup in Turkey last year.