Newcastle And Sunderland Urged To Make Move For Chelsea Defender

Don Hutchison wants the North East rivals to make an audacious move for Zouma...

by Chris Waugh
Newcastle United and Sunderland have both been urged to make an audacious move for Chelsea's Kurt Zouma by Don Hutchison. The former West Ham United and Black Cats midfielder, who now works as a columnist for The Chronicle, tweeted that the pair should try and hijack Roma's rumoured offer for the Blues defender. Zouma replaced John Terry, who was substituted for the first time ever by Jose Mourinho, at half-time of Chelsea's 3-0 loss to Manchester City at weekend and is rated highly by the Blues boss, although Roma's rumoured interest suggests a move could be agreed.
And Hutchison tweeted about the 20-year-old:
"Apparently Roma favourite to get Zouma on loan. "Where on earth are Newcastle and Sunderland on this......."
Interestingly, Italian journalist Emanuele Giulianelli tweeted last month a seemingly far-fetched rumour that the Magpies had enquired to the Premier League champions about the availability of the France international centre-back this summer. What's more, Newcastle had looked to tie up a deal for Zouma when he was at Saint-Etienne back in both 2013 and 2014, only for Chelsea to offer £12.5 million for the 6ft 3in centre-back and blow the Magpies€™ bid out of the water. And, although Zouma replaced Gary Cahill in the heart of the Blues defence for a large portion of last season, he was usurped by the England defender once more towards the backend of the campaign. Mourinho is a huge fan of Zouma and believes he will develop into a top-class centre-back, but experience in defence is something the Portuguese prizes so he may allow the Frenchman to leave in the short term. Having started his career at St-Etienne, Zouma made 73 appearances for the Ligue 1 side, scoring four goals, between 2011 and 2014 before moving to Chelsea. Then, last season, Zouma made 28 appearances for Chelsea and scored twice. He has also been capped once by twice. For all the latest NUFC News, Views and Transfers make sure to follow WhatCulture.com/NUFC on Twitter and Facebook.
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NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.