Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma has revealed he is open to going out on loan next season in a bid to get his career back on track.
The 22-year-old established himself as a regular for Chelsea before a serious knee injury in February 2016 ruled him out of action until January this year and first-team football has been hard to come by ever since.
Zouma has only featured in 23 minutes of action in the Premier League spread over four substitute appearances since making his comeback at the start of the year, with Antonio Conte settled on a back three of Gary Cahill, Cesar Azpilicueta and David Luiz.
The Chelsea manager is reportedly also keen to strengthen his defensive options in the summer that would only restrict Zouma’s first team opportunities further and the former France international is now ruling out a loan move in the summer with one eye on the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
“My aim is to succeed at Chelsea,” Zouma told beIN Sports, via Get French Football. “I arrived at the club two and a half years ago and I want to continue here.
“I am very happy. I do not concentrate much on the future. I am thinking more about the present with the squad, where there is much quality, which gets on well together. We want big things.
“A loan move ahead of the World Cup? Why not. We will see at the end of the season, but I am focused on Chelsea. I am confident and I know that I will play. I have not had a discussions with Antonio Conte about the future.”
Zouma has only completed 90 minutes on three occasions in 2017 and all of those came in the FA Cup.
For more stats on Kurt Zouma, click here to visit his WhoScored player page