Alarm bells ringing at West Ham after Zouma reveal via Ornstein – Whelan
Noel Whelan fears Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma may be about to join West Ham for the wrong reasons.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former Leeds and Middlesbrough striker suggested the 26-year-old’s potential move to the London Stadium is driven by money rather than football.
The Athletic‘s David Ornstein revealed on Monday that the Hammers have struck a verbal agreement with Chelsea for the transfer of the centre-half.
However, it is reported the Frenchman wants a significant pay increase on what he’s earning at Stamford Bridge to around £125,000-a-week.
The demand is proving a sticking point in a potential deal.
Whelan insisted Zouma should want to move to West Ham to play regular football, not to receive a bump on his salary.
“The players has got to come for the right reasons and that is to play football,” he told Football Insider‘s Dylan Childs.
“He should want to be in the team week in, week out. That should be his first thought as a football player, not getting a pay rise. That should be secondary.
“I’m pretty sure if he stays on the money he’s on at Chelsea it will not be detrimental to paying mortgages.
“For me, it is a question of whether he wants to play for West Ham because he wants to play for the shirt.
“It is really important people get the right impression of the player coming in. You want a player to come in for football reasons, not financial reasons.
” Zouma is not getting a look in at Chelsea. Why would you not want to be at a European side in West Ham who have started the season amazingly well?”
In other news, ex-striker claims West Ham fans will be worried by David Moyes’ ‘surprise’ transfer admission.