Kurt Zouma to Be Sidelined for Six Months due to Knee Surgery

The defender of Chelsea Kurt Zouma is to be sidelined for a period of six months due to the fact that he needs a surgery on his knee after an injury he suffered on Sunday. The 21-year-old player picked up a trauma after he landed awkwardly on the field in the club’s 1-1 Premier League draw with Manchester United on February 7th.

Zouma was sidelined right after he fell after contesting a high ball and leaping extraordinarily high off the ground. According to a scan test made afterwards, the defender had injured his anterior cruciate ligament. Unfortunately, the the player would have to go through a surgery this week, and then is to face a long recovery.

The information was revealed by Zouma himself, as he posted a tweet and promised to come back stronger. According to an official statement of Chelsea, the defender’s recovery is to take about six months.

The knee injury of the 21-year-old defender came as a serious blow not only for him, but also for his side, as the surgery and the long recovery period would rule the young player out until the rest of the current campaign. The fact that Zouma would be sidelined, however, could offer new possibilities for two of the most experienced central defenders of Chelsea – Gary Cahill and John Terry.

The injury comes at the worse possible time for Zouma, as he has already establish himself at the club and has started to make a position of his own. In addition, his technical skills with the ball improved immensely, as he has managed to form a great collaboration with the veteran captain of Chelsea.

Despite his young age, Zouma has become one of the most-preferred starters in central defence within the ranks of Chelsea, along with John Terry. The latter has said several times that there had not been a dialogue between him and the club since he announced that his contract would not be extended and he would leave at the end of the current campaign.

On the other hand, Gary Cahill, was reported as being unsettled at the beginning of 2016 as his Euro 2016 prospects have been hit by the lack of enough game time.

The Premier League club have nine matches without defeat under their interim manager Guus Hoddink. They currently occupy the 13th place in Premier League table.

In addition, Zouma is part of the France national football team. His most recent appearance for France was the country’s international friendly match against Denmark in October 2015. The country is to host the 2016 European Championship, which is to begin in June.