Zouma, who suffered a knee injury in 2016 that sidelined him for nine months, was loaned to Stoke City and Everton in the last two seasons before new Chelsea manager Frank Lampard made him a part of his first-team plans.
“It has been a very, very long journey,” Zouma told reporters. “I don’t want to talk about that now, because that is the past but I fought very hard. “People don’t know, people don’t see but I was in the shadow, working hard to get back because I had a very bad injury.“But I always believed in myself. My family was always there behind me and now I’m back here. I’m very happy to play here, I just want to keep going.”
Zouma has started the club’s first three games of the season and although he was below par in a 4-0 loss in the opening match with Manchester United, Lampard has shown faith in the 24-year-old Frenchman as the London side looks for its first win.“The competition is very hard and there are a lot of talented players, so when you train you to have to do it right.“Now we are starting to understand each other. We just need to be more clinical and get the wins.