According to The Athletic’s David Ornstein a verbal agreement has finally been reached between London clubs, Chelsea and West Ham for The Blues defender Kurt Zouma.
The transfer has been talked of among West Ham fans for majority of the summer, after Moyes made the French footballer his main target seemingly after switching his attention from Florentina’s Nikola Milenkovic.
West Ham are reportedly offering Zouma a 5-year contract, with the deal about to cost them £25.6 million including bonuses.
However, there have been talks of obstacles that are threatening to hinder the move, with Zouma’s personal terms and his will to stay at Chelsea being among the factors talked of.
Reports have it that Zouma wants a substantial wage increase from what he is earning at Chelsea to a figure close to a staggering £125,000 per week.
This would make him the club’s top earner, ahead of the likes of Andriy Yarmolenko, Jarrod Bowen and far ahead of their record goal scorer Michail Antonio. These terms are making it difficult for West Ham to finalize the deal.
Zouma is reportedly happy to remain at Chelsea till his contract runs out in 2023 if terms cannot be agreed upon. This is despite starting in only 8 matches since club legend Frank Lampard was replaced by Thomas Tuchel as manager earlier this year.
Zouma started 36 games in all competitions last season and would have appeared more for the club but fell out of favour when Tuchel joined the club.
The 26-year-old is yet to make an appearance this season, after being an unused substitute in the last two games.
Sky Sports News reported last week that rival London club Tottenham are also interested in signing Zouma.
If Zouma and either club agree on terms, Chelsea are likely return to Sevilla for another attempt to bring in Jules Kounde to maintain number of options at the back
However, with the Kounde’s price tag still hovering at about €70m or more, securing his signature may not be assured.
