West Ham United have agreed a deal with Chelsea to sign Tottenham Hotspur target Kurt Zouma, according to The Athletic, but the defender wants a huge salary to complete the transfer.
What’s the story?
The Athletic are reporting this morning (8am) that West Ham and Chelsea have ‘struck a verbal agreement’ for the transfer of Zouma.
The Hammers are ready to pay their London rivals €30 million (£25.76m) as transfer fee for the France international.
However, there are two problems.
Tottenham are interested in Zouma as well, according to the report, although West Ham are ‘remain the clear favourites’.
That’s the first problem which may not be massive if West Ham and Chelsea have a verbal agreement.
The second issue is that the 26-year-old wants ‘a significant salary increase’ on his £125,000-a-week wage he is getting at Chelsea.
The report claims that would make Zouma the highest-paid player in the West Ham squad.
What should West Ham do?
Zouma is a very good defender who, at the age of 26, has yet to hit his peak.
Described as “fantastic” by then Chelsea manager Frank Lampard in Goal.com in October 2019, the France international has won the Premier league title twice and the Champions League once with Chelsea.
The defender would be a good signing for West Ham, who will play in the Europa League this season, but would they be willing to pay Zouma more than the players already at the club?
Should they?
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