Stoke City ‘very hopeful’ of Kurt Zouma deal with Chelsea

Kurt Zouma’s immediate future could be sorted fairly soon and Stoke City are hoping that they’re involved in that decision.

“There is genuine interest. We'd like to make it happen if we can. The boy himself has to make a decision. We are one of many interested parties but we're very hopeful. We're still doing a number of deals."

-Mark Hughes; source: Stoke Sentinel

Mark “Sparky” Hughes is looking to add Zouma alongside Bruno Martins Indi, who spent last season at Stoke already on loan, to strengthen his defense. There would be solid competition for the Chelsea youngster to beat out for first-team minutes, but he probably should not be targeting anything below Premier League level at this point.

Rumors yesterday claimed that Zouma, who is way down the depth chart at center back right now, would first extend his Chelsea contract, which has but two years left on it, before heading out on loan for the season to finish his rehab from ACL surgery and hopefully help him get back to the level he was at before the unfortunate injury.