Kurt Zouma: Ex-Chelsea defender nearly scored an incredible individual goal in 2019 Ajax draw | OneFootball

Kurt Zouma’s exit from Chelsea last summer suited both parties.

Zouma got the opportunity to play regular football, joining West Ham United in a £29.8 million deal.

Meanwhile, it gave Chelsea the chance to give Trevoh Chalobah more minutes.

“We replaced him with Trevoh because we had the trust in Trevoh,” Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel explained, per the club’s website.

Chalobah hasn’t disappointed while Zouma was a regular in West Ham’s line-up before he suffered a hamstring injury at the start of December.

Zouma's Chelsea career

Competition for places in Tuchel’s back three is stiff. Not only has Chalobah’s development been swift but there’s Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger to compete with, too.

So Zouma’s decision to leave the club was hardly a surprise.

He’ll look back on his seven-and-a-half year Chelsea career with a lot of pride, though.

The Frenchman won two Premier League titles as well as the Champions League in 2021.

Zouma nearly scored world-class goal

He also managed to rack up 10 goals for the Blues, including five last season.

That number could have been 11 had Zouma managed to keep his composure after turning into ‘Cristiano Zoumaldo’ in a Champions League match against Ajax in 2019.

The centre-back stunned supporters by going on an incredible 80-yard run, racing past five players.

Zouma

It was so nearly one of the finest individual goals in football history.

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Fan reaction

Zouma's run sparked a lot of reaction from fans on social media.

Chelsea vs Ajax thriller

That Group H affair was an absolute thriller.

Frank Lampard’s side trailed 4-1, with Tammy Abraham and Kepa Arrizabalaga both scoring own goals, before producing an inspired comeback to draw 4-4

Zouma played a part in the equalising goal. His header came back off the crossbar and Reece James scored from the rebound.