We’re seeing patches of blue sky in London right now, under which Kurt Zouma shines like the quality defender he is. It’s a different landscape than the storm that engulfed it a little over a year ago. Today, at West Ham, we barely remember the turmoil in which the child of Saint-Étienne found himself.
“It was a difficult time for me and my family,” Zouma recalled in the columns of the Evening Standard last weekend. A period surely less painful for him than for the victim: a simple cat, hit several times by the player at his home, attests to a video broadcast on social networks on February 7, 2022.
Is this the only time Kurt Zouma, laughing with his brother, has abused an animal? His long message of apology the next day did not hush up the affair. PETA had asked for his removal from the France team, whose jersey he was still wearing in November 2021. “Inadmissible and intolerable”, judged Didier Deschamps, who claimed “a” sporting “choice as to his non-convocation for a month later.
Zouma was then an outcast in England, booed by fans, opposing or West Ham, at every game. Newcastle striker Chris Wood unsettled him on the pitch by imitating meows. The 28-year-old Frenchman had custody of his two cats taken away and was sentenced to 180 hours of community service on May 24.
An unpleasant past, but a past. “I made a mistake, a big mistake, still admitted Zouma in recent days. I have to apologize again for what I did, but you have to know how to move on in life. In the field, this young father of three children (5, 7 and 9 years old) did it brilliantly. He is essential at West Ham, who broke his piggy bank (€35m) in the summer of 2021 for this failed defender at Chelsea. The Hammers owe him part of their stay in the Premier League this season.
In fact, Zouma has never really disappointed in London. “He hasn’t had a break-in or adjustment period,” the dedicated West Ham fanzine Blowing Bubbles read in April 2022. Without the episode of animal abuse that tainted his image, “ Zouma would most likely be in the running for Player of the Year,” the magazine wrote, “Will the boos ever stop?” The answer is yes.
By dint of self-sacrifice, solid performances and a good character without deviation for more than a year, Zouma has turned public opinion. The coach, David Moyes, never took his confidence away from him, even though he also criticized him for his act of violence. “There’s something about Kurt that when he plays you look fairer,” the Scottish manager noted in early March. The fans validate. They now chant his name, and without mockery. “It means a lot to me, appreciated Zouma. I want to give that back to them by winning a trophy.”
The Frenchman speaks, without naming it, of the Europa League Conference, where Zouma only started playing after the group stage, once West Ham realized that there was something to play for. He was rested on the bench on the final day of the Championship to keep him fresh for this Wednesday. West Ham will challenge Fiorentina at the Eden Arena in Prague (Czech Republic). This is not trivial, as the trophy cabinet has been gathering dust for decades.
The Hammers have never been champions of England. They have not lifted the cup in the country since 1980. It is a poor relative of the capital, whose only European title, in the Cups Cup, dates back to prehistory (1965). At Zouma, but also at the goalkeeper and 2018 world champion Alphonse Areola, or the very courted midfielder Declan Rice, there is this desire to make the supporters happy. That’s good, Kurt Zouma’s middle name is “Happy”.
