West Ham United captain Kurt Zouma is a transfer target for the Saudi Pro League, 90min understands.
Zouma played an important role in West Ham’s Europa Conference League success last season, further establishing himself as one of the first names on David Moyes’ team sheet while building a successful partnership alongside Nayef Aguerd.
The Frenchman has continued to struggle with injuries though, playing just 45 of a possible 76 Premier League games in his first two seasons at the club, and is one of the club’s highest earners alongside Jarrod Bowen and Alphonse Areola, who has finally displaced Lukasz Fabianski as the club’s number one goalkeeper after two years of sitting on the substitutes bench.
28-year-old Zouma penned a four-year contract when joining West Ham from Chelsea for £30m in August 2021, and will have just 18 months left by the time the January transfer window opens. Currently, there has been no movement over offering fresh terms.
90min understands that clubs in the Saudi Pro League identified Zouma as a potential target in the summer, but it was made clear that they would have to wait until January at the earliest for a deal to even be considered.
Zouma has since been made West Ham’s permanent captain, replacing the departed Declan Rice, and he has started and completed the full 90 minutes in all eight of the club’s Premier League games this season.
West Ham reinforced their centre-back options in the summer by signing Konstantinos Mavropanos from VfB Stuttgart, but the Greek international has so far been limited to one substitute appearance in the Premier League and 270 minutes in the Europa League and Carabao Cup.
Aguerd is also capable of playing on the right-side of central defence, which is Zouma’s preferred position, and manager Moyes also has Thilo Kehrer and Angelo Ogbonna at his disposal.
90min further understands that West Ham remain interested in signing Manchester United’s Harry Maguire – a proposed move to London Stadium fell through despite a £30m fee being agreed – and technical director Tim Steidten is also keeping a close eye on other players he’s familiar with – Bayer Leverkusen’s Edmond Tapsoba for one.
That could lead to West Ham considering offers for Zouma, who joins an extensive list of Premier League players targeted for a move to the Middle East. N’Golo Kante, Jordan Henderson, Riyad Mahrez, Ruben Neves and Aleksandar Mitrovic were some of the headline names to head to Saudi in the summer, and it’s expected the country’s four PIF-backed teams will look to add more talent to their ranks when the window opens.
A new left-back, midfielder and centre forward is understood to be on West Ham’s January wish list, with Steidten looking to build on a summer recruitment drive that saw Mohammed Kudus, Edson Alvarez and James Ward-Prowse join the Europa League hopefuls.
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