The Blues confirm the signing of Zouma and have loaned the defender back to St Etienne.
Saint-Etienne defender Kurt Zouma has completed the transfer to Chelsea and has been loaned back to the Ligue 1 club for the rest of the season.
We have completed the signing of Kurt Zouma from St. Etienne, http://t.co/KYnztq6qdM #CFC
— Chelsea FC (@chelseafc) January 31, 2014
The fee is thought to be around £12m as the Blues make their third signing of the January window, along with the £20.75m arrival of Nemanja Matic from Benfica and the £11m purchase of FC Basel winger Mohamed Salah.
Zouma has been on the west London club’s radar for some time and has made no secret about the fact that the centre-back wanted to make the move to Stamford Bridge.
The 19-year-old also confirmed that talks with Jose Mourinho had taken place earlier in the month and the arrival of the Frenchman could well signal the end of David Luiz’s time at the club.
Mourinho is confident in Luiz’s defensive capabilities and the Brazil international has been heavily linked with a move away – although that is unlikely to happen until the summer now.
Zouma meanwhile is one of the hottest prospects in France, having broken into the St Etienne first team from their youth academy in 2011 and having since played 61 matches for the club in all competitions since.
The starlet missed a large chunk of this current season after being served a 10-match ban for a reckless tackle on Sochaux’s Thomas Guerbert – which broke the midfielder’s leg.
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