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Used very sporadically by Antonio Conte since his return from a terrible knee injury sustained over a year ago, Kurt Zouma is still happy with how last year went.

The young French defender might not have played as much as he wanted, but with the way things were going at Stamford Bridge, he understood that breaking the dynamic of the team might not be the best idea.

 

Speaking to France Football this week about anything and everything, Zouma looked back on the past year, and explained why it took him 11 months to return from an injury many thought would only take him six months or so to get over.

He said: “I wanted to be careful about relapsing. Often, people say it takes six months, but I wanted to be really certain I could come back, and to have the knowledge that I wouldn’t be stopped in my tracks again. It was the right thing to do”.

Clearly very sensible for a 22-year-old, Zouma, who made nine league appearances last season, has also attracted a lot of interest from abroad, mostly for loan deals, with clubs hoping they can be the platform for him to get back into the swing of things.

However, this isn’t something the player is interested in right now.

He told France Football: “No. I’m very happy at Chelsea. I hear the rumours, it’s flattering. It means I’m a player people are looking at, but I’m not going to stop there. My objective is to stay at Chelsea. Next season, we’ll start from scratch, there will be a lot of games. The cards will be on the table. It’s up to me to work hard.”

Lyon were one of the touted destinations, but with them seemingly closing in on Manchester City’s Jason Denayer instead, and Zouma adamant about making it at Stamford Bridge, that appears to be something of the past.