Conte: Zouma needed to go and play games

Kurt Zouma has always been thought of highly in the Chelsea ranks but injuries had derailed his progress over the last couple of seasons.

After suffering an ACL tear in February 2016, Zouma was sidelined until November of that year but didn’t make his Premier League return until after the new year.

In Chelsea’s title winning campaign, Zouma made just six starts, only three of which came in the Premier League and the Frenchman had fallen behind Nathan Ake in the ranks.

Ake was sold in the summer but the Blues put their faith in the returning Andreas Christensen and decided to send Kurt Zouma out on loan to play some regular football.

Antonio Conte believes the best move for Zouma was to go out on loan and the club still believe he can be a contributor in the future.

This season it’s very important to play because after a really bad injury, it’s not simple – he broke his leg in a bad way.

He is playing very well, it’s a pleasure for me to see him play regularly in this way. He can improve, I hope to see him tomorrow [at Stoke] to say hello.

In this case in every decision I make the decision with the club together and it’s important to know this, but in this specific case I think the best way for him is to send him on loan and play regularly.

He renewed contract with Chelsea for many years, it showed we trust him, it was very important.