Kurt Zouma joins West Ham from Chelsea for reported £29.8M fee

West Ham United strengthened their backline with the acquisition of Kurt Zouma from Chelsea on Saturday.

The French defender cost £29.8 million, according to BBC Sport's Simon Stone. His departure from Stamford Bridge is widely expected to be followed by Chelsea signing Jules Kounde from Sevilla.

"With the great season that West Ham had last year, that gave the team a lot of confidence to improve this year - and I want to help the team do that," Zouma said after signing a four-year contract.

Zouma, 26, was on Chelsea's books for seven-and-a-half years after joining the club from Saint-Etienne. He's a two-time Premier League winner and enjoyed successes in the Champions League and League Cup during his time with the Blues. He's played in 165 Premier League matches and has appeared eight times for his country.

David Moyes has opened the season with Craig Dawson and Angelo Ogbonna, both of whom are over 30, as his first-choice central defensive pairing. Issa Diop was an unused substitute for each of West Ham's three league matches to begin the campaign, while Winston Reid is yet to appear following last season's loan spell at Brentford and his trip to the Tokyo Olympics with New Zealand.