Kurt Zouma is set to undergo his West Ham medical in Paris today ahead of a £25million move from Chelsea.
The defender has been in the French capital for the last few days and is close to becoming David Moyes’s first permanent signing of the summer.
Talks have been on and off over the past month, with Zouma initially turning down a move to the London Stadium. West Ham had turned their attention to Fiorentina’s Nikola Milenkovic before Moyes pulled the plug and put full focus on securing a deal for the Chelsea man, who is yet to feature in the Premier League this season.
The Hammers had initially baulked at the 26-year-old’s £125,000-a-week wage demands and there was concern on Wednesday night as talks hit a snag with one of Zouma’s French representatives, though all sides now expect the move to go through and the former Everton and Stoke loanee is thought to be excited at the prospect of joining a squad very much on the up.
Moyes’s side finished just two points shy of Chelsea last season and the east Londoners are confident of building on their success from last term, while they also have a Europa League campaign to look forward to.
West Ham face Crystal Palace at the London Stadium on Saturday looking to make it three wins from three this season. All paperwork would have to be submitted by 12noon on Friday for Zouma to feature though with the defender in Paris and his vaccination status not known it is unclear whether he would be available.
If the French international is not double-jabbed he will have to quarantine for 10 days upon his return from France, though aside from the Crystal Palace game that would mean isolating during the international break.
