Kurt Zouma’s transfer from Chelsea to West Ham is reportedly hanging in the balance. The £25.7million deal for the centre-back was understood to be close to completion with the respective managers of Chelsea and West Ham both confirming a bid had been accepted and a medical was taking place. Speaking ahead of the weekend’s action Blues boss Thomas Tuchel said Zouma was in France and in talks with West Ham over his transfer:
Thomas Tuchel said: “There are negotiations between West Ham and Chelsea about Kurt. Kurt right now is not with us, not because of these negotiations but because he has some personal issues to solve and we allowed him to travel to France. This isn’t the reason he’s not with us in the squad. There are negotiations right now but, to be honest, I don’t know where it leads to right now. We have to wait. Both things can happen that he stays or not.”
David Moyes went further than his Chelsea counterpart, admitting that a medical was taking place but added he was unaware of the outcome.
David Moyes said: “We have had an offer accepted by Chelsea for Kurt but he is still completing his medical at the moment, so I could not tell you if that is complete yet or not as I have just come in from training. I am hoping that goes through and we can get in a fourth centre-half because I think we are short of one this moment in time.”
Despite the comments from both managers just hours later the deal appears to be hanging by a thread, with the Mirror reporting West Ham to have concerns over a knee issue Zouma’s medical brought up. Moyes made it clear that Zouma was a priority signing with the manager keen to add a fourth centre-back to his squad following the summer departure of Fabian Balbuena. With just four days remaining of the transfer window and a Europa League campaign on the horizon West Ham’s squad depth is of concern to Moyes who is hoping to add to his team before the August 31 deadline.
David Moyes said: “We are looking to try to add to the squad with players who can make a difference. I believe we will but ultimately I cannot promise it. At the moment we are two players down from the squad we finished with last season with so we have to add to that and the club certainly [know] that too.”
