Reports in French sports daily L’Equipe state that Chelsea are close to agreeing a loan-deal with Marseille for defender Kurt Zouma. The 22-year-old has failed to break into Antonio Conte’s squad this season after returning from a long-term injury lay-off and the journal suggests that the Italian will let him leave for a season to get more game time under his belt.
 

It’s also stated that Valencia are interested in the player who has made just nine appearances this season for the champions but the French international prefers to head back to his homeland rather than go out to Spain.
 

Zouma arrived at Stamford Bridge in January 2014 from St Etienne in a £12M deal but a serious knee injury has left him sidelined for much of his time in West London. Only last month the player stated that he wanted to remain at his current employers but was aware that he needed more first-team starts if he was to secure his place on the plane to Russia next year should France qualify for the World Cup Finals.