Chelsea manager ready to loan defender out next season

Antonio Conte is prepared to loan Kurt Zouma out next season in a bid to get his career back on track as the Chelsea manager eyes further defensive reinforcements this summer, reports The Daily Mirror.

Zouma has barely featured for Chelsea since recovering from a serious knee injury at the start of 2017 as Conte has resisted rotating a back three of Gary Cahill, Cesar Azpilicueta and David Luiz all season.

The former France international revealed earlier in the season that he would assess his options at the end of the current campaign with a view to forcing his way back into Didier Deschamps’ France squad for World Cup next summer.

However, little has changed since then and now even Conte is prepared to loan the powerful central defender out on loan next season to let the defender kickstart his career again.

The 22-year-old has only started two Premier League games this season, being subbed off at half-time of their 2-1 win over Manchester City and playing 83 minutes of their surprise 2-0 defeat to Manchester United midway through April.

For more stats on Kurt Zouma, click here to visit his WhoScored player page