Chief scout Gary Worthington watched the Frenchman last week and has given the go-ahead to sign the player.
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New Manchester City head coach Manuel Pellegrini will make a move for promising young St Etienne defender Kurt Zouma in the January transfer window with the Chilean understood to be concerned by his side’s recent displays at the back, according to reports in the Sunday Mirror.
City went down to a shock 3-2 defeat to struggling Aston Villa in the Premier League at Villa Park on Saturday afternoon, while the mega-rich top-flight club also shipped another three goals as they surprisingly lost 3-2 to newly promoted Cardiff City in South Wales last month.
And with right-back Micah Richards having only just returned to first-team action last week following a long layoff with a hamstring injury and centre-back Joleon Lescott out of favour with Pellegrini at present, the former Real Madrid manager has been left with just captain Vincent Kompany and the inexperienced Serb Matija Nastasic as his first-choice central defenders.
As a result, Pellegrini has now asked the club to sign him a back-up centre back as soon as the transfer window opens again at the turn of the year, with Zouma believed to be top of City’s wish list after the club tried to buy the 18-year-old last winter.
The France Under-21 international has a contract with les Verts that runs until 2017 and with the player having not played in Europe this season, Zouma is an even more attractive proposition to Pellegrini.