Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma’s future is reportedly in major doubt after being cut from the 25-man pre-season squad of new manager Maurizio Sarri.
Despite arriving at Stamford Bridge as one of the most promising young defenders in Europe, Zouma has struggled to live up to expectations in his time in west London.
Injuries have not helped his cause, but he also arguably failed to take his chance to impress on loan with Stoke City last season as they suffered relegation from the Premier League.
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Now back at Chelsea, the Metro claim Zouma’s future with the club is looking bleak as he’s failed to make it into Sarri’s squad to go on tour this pre-season.
The Frenchman may now have to think about finding a new club, with plenty of central defenders ahead of him in the pecking order in this Blues squad.
Hardly surprising that Zouma doesn't have a future here. Could be a very good servant to a mid-table Premier League side, but he's not Chelsea quality.
— Jamie Wilkinson (@parkedthebus) July 19, 2018
There’s also a chance of strengthening further at the back this summer, with Daniele Rugani reported as being close to joining CFC from Juventus, according to the Evening Standard.
This all adds up as Sarri mentioned centre-back as a weak area of the team in his first Chelsea press conference yesterday, as quoted by ESPN’s Chelsea correspondent Liam Twomey:
Sarri hints at Rugani: "I spoke with the football club and said ideally I think that a pinch of quality is lacking in our centre-backs for a certain kind of play, otherwise they are at a very high level." #cfc
— Liam Twomey (@liam_twomey) July 18, 2018