Jose Mourinho believes Chelsea should get the best out of Kurt Zouma

Former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho believes the Blues should utilise the services of Kurt Zouma for the long-term. The France international spent the previous campaign on loan with Everton, where he formed an impressive partnership with Michael Keane and the Toffees are said to have made an attempt to pursue him on a permanent basis from the Blues.

However, new manager Frank Lampard has clearly stated that Zouma will feature for the Blues next term and Mourinho feels the Frenchman has the credentials to become a regular presence from the starting lineup, he said: “I think every manager in the world loves to play kids from the academy. I think Chelsea is a very special club in relation to that.

"I just give an example: Chelsea needs a centre-back – Kurt Zouma! You don’t need to buy, you don’t need to spend. Zouma! He’s champion of England, he played for Chelsea, played for Stoke in the Premier League, played for Everton in the Premier League, played for France. He’s your player, he’s on loan, where are you going to buy a better player than him? You already have him."

Zouma has spent the past two campaigns on loan with Stoke City and Everton respectively with Lampard’s predecessors reluctant to assure him with regular gametime. However, that could change during the forthcoming campaign with the departure of Gary Cahill and it remains to be seen whether the Frenchman can make the best use of the opportunity.

With Antonio Rudiger currently sidelined with a knee injury, Zouma has the opportunity to take up one of the central defensive roles alongside David Luiz for the season opener, but he cannot take things for granted, considering he faces competition from Andreas Christensen, who has 69 appearances in the past two seasons with the club. Chelsea have a pre-season friendly against Borussia Monchengladbach this weekend before the new campaign begins.