Former West Ham United captain Kurt Zouma was always going to come under scrutiny when he made that shock switch to CFR Cluj, becoming one of the best-paid and best-known footballers in Romanian football history as a result, according to Hammers News.
And unfortunately for him, the glittering CV and his eye-watering wage means that patience and sympathy have been in extremely short supply during a punishing few months in Eastern Europe.
CFR Cluj had the Champions League in mind when signing Kurt Zouma following the expiration of his West Ham United contract. They have not graced the biggest of the European stages in well over a decade now, after all.
And by signing an eleven time France international, a Conference League and Champions League winner, and a former Premier League skipper, Cluj thought they had the man to lead them back into the elite.
It is fair to say a miserable 1-0 defeat by Petrolul Ploiesti was not what they had in mind when signing Zouma with half an eye on Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. That, a narrow loss on October 20th, remains the former West Ham United stopper’s only start for a club stuck in eleventh in the 16-team Romanian Liga I.
And who knows? That rarest of starts may also be his last.
Cristi Balaj, Cluj president at the time of the defender’s arrival, accepted that Zouma had to make a positive ‘first impression’ if he was to justify that near-£45,000-a-week contract.
After a difficult loan spell in Saudi Arabia, the 31-year-old would need some time to get up to speed.
Even Balaj felt that Zouma would be rearing to go by December, though. As it is, he has played only 107 minutes across Cluj’s last eleven league matches.
And with new chief Iuliu Muresan embarking upon a period of austerity, it seems that the days of spending big on high-profile acquisitions are over before they ever really began.
“Zouma is injured. I think a winter [change] is possible. Let’s see, we have to talk to him too,” Muresan, who recently replaced Balaj in the presidential office, told Fanatik. “He’s very positive, a good guy, but we need fit players who want it.
“He wants to play, he has quality character, he has an impressive physique, but he has some problems with both knees. It’s hard for him to play football at this level anymore.
“The chances are 99 per cent that he will leave, yes”, sais Iuliu Mureșan.
Banca Transilvania, BT Investments Complete BRD Pensions Buyout
