“A warrior on the pitch, a nice guy off it…” This is how Zouma, the athletic (1m90) and discreet defender, is perceived within the France team. In no way like the bully abusing one of the two cats in the home, under the eyes of his child moreover, as shown in the video broadcast by the tabloid The Sun on Tuesday.
Didier Deschamps did not recognize the individual booed jointly by London supporters of West Ham and Watford on Tuesday evening, and vilified on social networks for 48 hours. “I was very surprised on the part of Kurt Zouma”, declared the coach from the start on France 3 on Wednesday evening, adding that it was an act “inadmissible, intolerable, of an indescribable cruelty . I’m sure he realized that.”
At the Blues, the great friend of Kurt, 27, is Paul Pogba (Manchester United), two years his senior. Almost a big brother. Together, they were world champions with the France U20 team in 2013. It is not uncommon for the two players to appear together on videos posted by the FFF. “I can’t explain what I read on his account,” said Pierre Mankowski, who led the U20 world champions in 2013. At no time did I feel anything abnormal about him. I remember a smiling boy, adorable with everyone. There, it is misunderstanding that dominates. »
“This gratuitous, stupid and nasty act of violence, appears all the more astonishing that I have never heard of Kurt Zouma badly, observed, for his part, Noël Le Graët, the president of the FFF on Wednesday. On the contrary, he is a boy known to be respectful, positive. Within the France group, he is, in fact, much appreciated for his eternal smile. We talk about him as a player who never complains and is always happy to be there. “Kurt is an angel in a monster body, someone very sweet, summarizes a former coach. Always smiling, helpful. He’s someone who wants things to go well. Someone balanced, who does not make noise. Who likes to laugh too. Someone good, what. Nothing suggested what we saw…”
“I also keep the memory of a rather naive and easily influenced boy…”
Should we look for the reasons for this slippage in childhood or adolescence, often confiscated from footballers? Not really in Zouma’s case, it seems. The second of three siblings, all professional footballers — Lionel, 28 (Vevey, 4th Swiss level) and Yoan, 23 (Dagenham and Redbridge, 5th English level, author of the controversial video) — Kurt grew up in the suburbs from Lyon.
Although precocious, he nevertheless climbed the stages step by step. In a pre-training center in Dijon from 12 to 14 years old, he returned to his family and played with his club Vaulx-en-Velin on weekends. From the age of 14, not retained at OL, he joined the training center of Saint-Étienne, rather renowned from all points of view. It was with the Greens that Zouma quickly hatched, signed his first professional contract and played his first match with the flag team at 16 years old. “I keep the memory of a good person, placid, very courteous, appreciated in the locker room, confides a former manager from Saint-Etienne. Someone knowing how to stay in his place and with a good communicative mood. I also have the memory of a rather naive and easily influenced boy…”
In Saint-Étienne, we mothered Zouma. For his debut in 2011, Christophe Galtier, the coach at the time, did not immediately assign him his own number, in order not to exert excessive pressure on him. Then in January, Loïc Perrin, the captain, solemnly gave him a jersey stamped with the number 4 and his name on the back. After three seasons in Forez, Zouma made the Premier League his playground. At Chelsea in 2014, at Stoke City then Everton (loans), and finally at West Ham, thanks to a transfer of 30 million euros last summer.
With only 11 selections in six years, he waited a long time before his first cap on March 29, 2015 against Denmark (2-0). Previously, he had been called by Didier Deschamps to participate in training while he was still with the Espoirs. Zouma remains, however, a simple alternative among the Blues. Natural understudy of Raphaël Varane in central defense, he has to deal with severe competition in his position: Kimpembe, Lucas Hernandez, Koundé, Upamecano or even Ibrahima Konaté.
Will this case have an impact on his international career, nine months before the World Cup in Qatar? A first trend is expected with the next list of Deschamps around March 17, in anticipation of the friendly matches against Côte d’Ivoire (March 25) and South Africa (March 29). “It may have happened to me not to call certain players when they made mistakes”, warns the coach. We have seen worse with the Blues, but this error is significant and Zouma, far from being untouchable. Clearly, his chances of being summoned in a few weeks appear very slim.
