Stoke have emerged as favourites ahead of West Brom to sign Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma on a season-long loan deal, reports The Daily Telegraph.
The Premier League champions are keen to let Zouma find regular first-team football elsewhere next season following the arrival of Antonio Rudiger from Roma earlier this month.
Antonio Conte is also willing to give Andreas Christensen, who has spent the last two years on loan at Gladbach, the chance to prove his worth this season and this combination of factors will come at the expense of Zouma.
The France international barely featured for Chelsea last season after recovering from a serious knee injury midway through the campaign and wants regular first-team football next year in a bid to force his way back into Didier Deschamps’ squad for the 2018 World Cup.
Chelsea have not been short of suitors for the powerful defender but have struggled to get a concrete offer from any side due to the finances involved in brokering a deal.
West Brom and Stoke have emerged as the lead contenders to take Zouma on loan but the Potters are now the favourites for his signature, which is expected to happen after the 22-year-old has put pen to paper on a new four-year deal at Chelsea.
Chelsea gave Zouma permission to miss pre-season training on Wednesday to accelerate a loan move, with Stoke set to cover all of his wages.
Despite some tremendous performances prior to his serious knee injury in the 2015/16 campaign, Chelsea have a better win ratio in the Premier League without Zouma starting. Since his debut season in August 2014, Chelsea have won 66.3% of their league matches when the Frenchman hasn’t started compared to just 41.9% when he has been selected.
For more stats on Kurt Zouma, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
