Kurt Zouma putting Chelsea future on hold to focus on Stoke City’s fight for Premier League survival
Kurt Zouma says he won't think about his future at Chelsea until the summer as he focuses on trying to keep Stoke City in the Premier League.
The defender has featured in all but five of Stoke’s Premier League matches during his loan spell so far, and the 23-year-old believes his decision to leave Chelsea last summer has been vindicated.
“I'm happy with my loan move, of course,” Zouma told Standard Sport after Stoke’s draw with West Ham. “I came here to play and I did it.”
Zouma has five years remaining on his contract at Chelsea, having agreed a new deal prior to joining Stoke.
In Pictures | West Ham vs Stoke City | 16/04/2018
He is set to return to Stamford Bridge in the summer to compete with likes of Gary Cahill, Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen for a place in the Chelsea defence, but insists that, for now, he is full focused on keeping Stoke in the Premier League.
Asked whether he has thought about his future at Chelsea, Zouma told Standard Sport: "Especially not at the moment...If I know I'm still in the Premier League [with Stoke] then I will see about the future. But not now."
“I'm just focused on my team and try and keep them in the Premier League and win games - that's the most important thing. That's the most that I want. It doesn't matter about the rest at the moment."
Understandably so, considering the predicament Stoke find themselves in.
With four games remaining of his loan spell the Potters are five-points adrift of safety, facing a huge fight to maintain their Premier League status following West Ham’s late equaliser at the London Stadium on Monday night.
| 15 | Huddersfield | 34 | 9 | 8 | 17 | -27 | 35 |
| 16 | Crystal Palace | 34 | 8 | 10 | 16 | -18 | 34 |
| 17 | Swansea | 33 | 8 | 9 | 16 | -19 | 33 |
| 18 | Southampton | 33 | 5 | 13 | 15 | -20 | 28 |
| 19 | Stoke | 34 | 6 | 10 | 18 | -33 | 28 |
| 20 | West Brom | 34 | 4 | 12 | 18 | -25 | 24 |
Zouma played the entirety of the 1-1 draw. Stoke took the lead through Peter Crouch in the 79th minute before Andy Carroll's added-time goal denied them a crucial victory.
While Zouma admitted the Stoke players were "sad" in the dressing room at full time, Zouma urged his teammates to re-group and try and get a result over Burnley on Sunday.
"I think we should have won here [against West Ham], that was the target: to win. Obviously we are a bit sad with the goal we conceded at the end of the game, but I think we did well. We defended well.
"We scored the first one, we wanted to keep a clean sheet but unfortunately we couldn't.
"Our heads are a bit down, but there are still four games left to go and we still believe we can stay in the Premier League. We have to be focused for Sunday."
