Blues hope to land central defender next month.
Premier League outfit Chelsea appear to have now won the race to sign in-demand St Etienne defender Kurt Zouma ahead of the likes of top-flight rivals Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City, according to reports in the Daily Mail.
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The Uefa Europa League holders have been keeping close tabs on the highly rated France Under-21 international for some time now, and despite the fact that Zouma is currently in the middle of serving a 10-game ban after recently being sent off for breaking a Sochaux player’s leg, the west London club are said to still be keen on bringing the centre back to Stamford Bridge when the winter transfer window opens again in the new year.
And it is thought that the Blues are now on the verge of agreeing a £12 million deal for the tough-tackling 19-year-old, whose current contract with the Ligue 1 outfit runs until June 30 2017.
Zouma has been with les Verts throughout his whole career to date, with the highly rated defender having made his debut for the French club in August 2011, with the player having sine gone on to find the back of the net on four occasions in his 51 league outings for the club.