CHELSEA HAVE ANNOUNCED that they have signed 19-year-old French centre-back Kurt Zouma from Ligue 1 side Saint-Etienne on a five-and-a-half-year contract.
The powerful French Under-21 international, who made his first-team debut at the age of 17, will be loaned back to Saint-Etienne until the end of the season.
“Chelsea Football Club has today (Friday) signed Kurt Zouma from St. Etienne,” read a statement on the Chelsea website. “He will remain on loan at the French club for the rest of the season.”
Chelsea did not disclose how much they had paid to sign Zouma, but reports in the British media and in France suggested that the transfer fee was around £12 million (€14.6 million).