Just in: Kurt Zouma receives clear transfer message
Former West Ham goalkeeper Shaka Hislop has backed Chelsea defender, Kurt Zouma to make a move to Tottenham this summer transfer window.
Zouma has not been a regular starter at Chelsea since the arrival of Thomas Tuchel as head coach in January and there are no chances it would happen with Tottenham interested in his service.
But Hislop thinks Eric Dier cannot be relied upon, hence Zouma will get his place in the North London team.
“Yeah [Zouma is an upgrade],” Hislop told ESPN FC.
“I like [Davinson] Sanchez in the centre of defence but I don’t think Dier is a centre-back you rely on all season long.
“You want to bring in an out-and-out centre-back and if Eric Dier has to tuck in there every now and then, great.
“But I’d use him in his preferred position as a defensive midfielder. So it makes a lot of sense.
“Zouma is a player I also like a lot but his chances have been, and will continue to be, limited at Chelsea.
“So it makes sense to me to make that short trip across London to sign for a team who promise a lot and you will feature a whole lot more prominently.”
Meanwhile, Blues ace Chalobah has received plenty of praise since his man of the match display against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
And Arsenal legend Ian Wright has compared the defender to Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk.
“Watching him against Arsenal [in pre-season] I was thinking: ‘wow, maybe it’s just a pre-season friendly he looks good’,” Wright said on Ringer FC’s Wrighty’s House podcast.
“I watched him against Villarreal [in the Super Cup] and I thought: ‘my god he’s really good’.
“You know what he reminded me of, not the same player, not the same stature, but the way Virgil Van Dijk when he played for Celtic, people said he’s just taking liberties just because he’s good and not in the same standard [as others].
“I watched him play for Ipswich a couple of times where he played in that vein where you think I’d like to see him against better quality.”