Football Daily presenter Dougie Critchley has explained where he thinks Kurt Zouma will fit in at his new club West Ham United.
Having signed Zouma late in the window, Hammers fans are yet to see exactly where the Frenchman will play once put into their side.
Angelo Ogbonna and Craig Dawson have both started all three of the club’s opening league fixtures of the season, meaning that one of them could be displaced when football resumes again after the international break.
While this may well be the case, there could also be another option for David Moyes to employ. While talking about the new signing on Football Daily’s Sunday Vibes, Critchley detailed a couple of theories with regards to how Zouma could slot in for his new team.
He said: “Craig Dawson and Ogbonna have been, really, pretty good for them since that partnership was created in, was it January that Craig Dawson arrived at the club?
“But yeah, Kurt Zouma is, I think, a step up on either one of them. I probably expect him to play alongside Ogbonna maybe, but we’ll see what happens there.
“Maybe Moyes will shift to a three at the back as well and then have [Vladimir] Coufal and [Aaron] Cresswell as his wing-backs which is pretty exciting there as well.”
TIF Thoughts on Kurt Zouma and West Ham…
Having just been part of a Chelsea team to win the Champions League, Zouma will hardly expect to arrive at West Ham as a backup option in defence.
However, the partnership of Dawson and Ogbonna drew plenty of praise last season in the British media and was likely a key factor in the club qualifying for their first-ever Europa League group stage campaign.
Even so, Zouma won two Premier League titles, the Champions League and the League Cup during seven and a half years at Stamford Bridge. With experience such as that, David Moyes will surely do whatever it takes to squeeze the 26-year-old into his team.
Moving to a back three, as Critchley suggests, would certainly be an interesting way to keep all of Moyes’ key centre-backs on the field together.