When Kurt Zouma arrived at Chelsea, signing from Saint Etienne for a fee said to be of the magnitude of £12 million, it looked as if the French youngster was set to become a mainstay of the Chelsea defence, after some impressive performances.
Unfortunately, Kurt was to suffer a devastating injury when he landed awkwardly, in a Premier League fixture against Manchester United, in February 2016.
His knee injury saw him sidelined for nine months and by the time he’d regained his match fitness he was unable to break back into the first team.
Last season, Kurt was loaned to Stoke City where, despite the Potteries side being relegated, his performances earned rave reviews.
This season, Kurt is again out on a season-long loan, this time at Everton.
Today, lurking in the pages of the news source, Read Everton, is the insinuation that his loan move could become a permanent one once the January transfer window opens.
At 24-years-of-age, Kurt is at the stage of his career whereby he probably acknowledges that his chances of securing a long-term future at Chelsea, have become limited.
With Maurizio Sarri opting for a back-four, the Italian has settled on a partnership of David Luiz and Antonio Rudiger, with Andreas Christensen and Gary Cahill providing back-up.
There’s also, out on loan, the fast-emerging youngster Chelsea have loaned out to Derby County, Fikayo Tomori.
I often wonder just how different things might have been if Kurt hadn’t of picked up that bad knee injury against Manchester United, could he have gone on to be one of the two at the heart of our defence, on a regular basis.