Tottenham Hotspur‘s search for a new defender has taken them across London, with Nuno Espirito Santo reportedly setting his sights on Chelsea‘s Kurt Zouma.
According to Sky Sports, Zouma is on the list of defenders Tottenham are keeping tabs on, which includes Fiorentina’s Nikola Milenkovic and Wolfsburg’s Maxence Lacroix.
Zouma was heavily linked with a move to West Ham United, but the Hammers are struggling to match his wage demands. Chelsea also reportedly tried to include him in a deal to sign Sevilla’s Jules Kounde, but Zouma turned down the move as he wants to remain in London.
The 26-year-old has made over 150 appearances for Chelsea in all competitions since arriving from Saint-Etienne in 2014. But he dropped down the pecking order last season once Thomas Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard at the helm.
He started only eight times in the league under the German boss, and did not feature in any of their last five games of the Champions League. Zouma has two years left on his current contract.
Kurt Zouma to Tottenham – A good option for Nuno Santo?
Kurt Zouma clearly has no future at Chelsea. The likes of Thiago Silva, Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen are ahead of him in the pecking order, while the emergence of Trevoh Chalobah is a further blow to the Frenchman’s prospects. As such, a move to Spurs could help him reignite his career.
Spurs have not been too active in the market thus far and time is running out for Nuno to bolster his squad. The London club have signed just three players — Pierluigi Gollini (Atalanta), Bryan Gil (Sevilla) and Cristian Romero (on loan from Atalanta). Thus, Nuno is still on the lookout for reinforcements.
Following the departures of Toby Alderweireld and Juan Foyth, Spurs’ current centre-back options are Davinson Sanchez, Eric Dier, Japhet Tanganga. Joe Rodon is still pretty inexperienced. Zouma is potentially an upgrade on all of them. He could be the ideal partner for Romero.
The Frenchman is an extremely physical centre-back who is strong in the air and great at winning back possession. He is equally comfortable playing in a back-three system or in a four-man defence. He has great awareness and is not often caught out of position. Last season, Zouma won 3.6 aerial duels per game, while also making 1.2 interceptions and 3.8 clearances.
The 26-year-old is adept at playing out from the back and has exceptional distribution skills; he can start attacks with precise long-balls. He averaged 3.8 long balls per game for Chelsea last season.
Zouma’s arrival will significantly boost Spurs’ top-four bid, but it remains to be seen if the Blues are willing to sell to their direct rivals.
Stats via Whoscored
