Chelsea: Why Kurt Zouma Is Developing into the Long-Term Successor to John Terry
Jose Mourinho has made no secret of his admiration for Kurt Zouma of late.
First it was comparing him to Chelsea legend Marcel Desailly; now, the Blues boss is suggesting the French youngster can go on to emulate John Terry by captaining the cub.
"Zouma now is 20, so one day Zouma will be 23 or 24 and will be a player of great maturity and probably leadership, too, to replace John," Mourinho was quoted as saying by The Mirror.
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"Zouma is playing more than I expected, more than he expected, more than everyone expected. So he’s getting very important experience.
"When he gets caps with France and is playing with Chelsea at this level his development will have an acceleration."
Terry's form these past two seasons suggests the Chelsea captain has much more time left at the top than was first thought; exactly when Zouma will get the chance to wear the armband at Stamford Bridge is anyone's guess.
It doesn't mean he's not on the road to doing that, though.
"We bought him because of his physical profile, but we were not happy with his tactical knowledge of the game," Mourinho continued in The Mirror.
"We trusted we could give that to him. In pre-season, I saw mistakes in Germany against Werder Bremen. Mistakes in Hungary against Ferencvaros.
"I thought: 'No problem, it will take time.' He’s bright, humble, wants to work and learn, listens and is intelligent, so he’s had an acceleration in that process to bring him to a level where he is competing with Gary Cahill."
Zouma is much like Terry at this stage of his career. As Mourinho highlights, he's a raw bag of bones that needs some fine-tuning.
What's impressed most with the 20-year-old is his recovery. Zouma has been guilty more than once this season of overcommitting or finding himself out of position.
More often than not, however, he has had enough about him to get back and make a well-timed tackle to save his own blushes.
We saw that against Liverpool in the second of the Capital One Cup semi-final clash at Stamford Bridge, with Raheem Sterling the man foolish enough to think he had evaded Zouma, only to find the Chelsea defender getting back to atone for his errors.
In some ways, those interceptions have amplified Zouma's performances, yet it remains a vital aspect of any defender's game.
Others star names have experienced it when they have faced him, but as Zouma's developed over these past couple of months, he's beginning to iron out the need for the dramatics.
He has a more controlled look about him. Just ask Christian Eriksen, who hardly had a sniff when he faced Zouma in the Capital One Cup final.
Zouma's job was a simple one that day—to help in cutting off the supply line for Harry Kane. Snuffing out Eriksen's threat was key to that, and Zouma was influential.
He marshaled the defensive midfield area, despite the fact it was his debut in that position.
Which leads onto Mourinho's comments.
We've heard so often that Wembley can make a player's career—that's the venue built for legends of the game.
Zouma isn't quite of that ilk just yet, although Mourinho's comments have been inspired by his display.
We all saw what the Chelsea manager did—a player willing to perform like a leader. It took great character and strength of mind for Zouma to step out at Wembley and play the way he did.
It was about accepting a challenge, being headstrong and understanding what was required of him.
Chelsea lifted the trophy, and just as it was for Mourinho's team, it was a coming-of-age moment for Zouma.
That was the game he went from young hopeful, to young star.
It was the moment when we saw for the first time that he could well be the next John Terry in waiting.
Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes
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