Kurt Zouma blocking loan deals to fulfill wish to stay at Chelsea — report

Since returning from a torn ACL suffered 15 months ago, Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma has not quite looked like himself just yet. Although this is an expected effect of an injury that has changed the careers of many athletes over the years, there is hope that Zouma can eventually return to his previous level of play and then improve from there as once envisioned. He just needs some consistent playing time, which is where Chelsea’s plan to send him out on loan comes into play.

However, according to French newspaper L'Equipe (via Get French Football News), Zouma does not want to follow these recovery plans and he is actively blocking any attempts to take him away from Cobham. There are apparently loan offers waiting from Lyon, Nice and Marseille but Zouma wants none of that.

In an interview to France Football last month, the 22-year-old made his wishes of staying at the Bridge public. But with Chelsea pursuing at least one new signing in Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen ready to stake a claim as well, Zouma’s looking at being just sixth choice at the moment. Perhaps he can convince Conte otherwise in pre-season? Otherwise, wasting away on the bench is doing no one any good.