Former West Ham United captain Kurt Zouma may have just put Romanian football on the map following his most unexpected of summer moves to CFR Cluj.
Cluj hand-picked Zouma as the man to bring Champions League football back to the Eastern European nation.
No Romanian side has graced Europe’s premier club competition since Steaua Bucharest over a decade ago. Cluj, meanwhile, are determined to end their near 13-year absence from the biggest of stages.
Kurt Zouma is not only the best-paid player in Romania, he is also arguably the most high-profile foreign player ever to play in their domestic competition. Zouma won the Conference League with West Ham United, and the Champions League with Chelsea, after all, in addition to earning eleven caps for the French national team.
Zouma, something of a trend-setter it seems for an ambitious Cluj outfit, has since been joined at the Doctor Constantin Radulescu Stadium by ex-Leicester City and Newcastle striker Islam Slimani, as well as Ligue 1 stalwart Marcus Coco.
Cluj tried to sign Hakim Ziyech, the centre-back’s former Chelsea teammate, too.
Yet, speaking to Digi Sport, Zouma insists that it wasn’t only fans and pundits who were left taken aback by the 31-year-old’s shock switch to the Liga I.
Former West Ham United captain Kurt Zouma admits he ‘hadn’t heard of Romania’ before joining Cluj
Across his entire professional career, Zouma had never played against a single Romanian club, or indeed their national team. That changed when he made his Cluj debut against UTA Arad in September.
And, by his own admission, Zouma would have struggled to locate Romania on a map before he touched down in Transylvania a few months ago.
“Life in Cluj is good. I was surprised, because I hadn’t heard of Romania before! So I’m discovering a new culture here for my family,” Zouma smiles. “I’m happy to be here. I’m discovering new things here, especially since I’m coming from Saudi Arabia.”
Zouma had to deal with ‘amateurish’ conditions during a loan spell at Al-Orobah last season. He is feeling far more positive about life in his new home, Zouma’s desire to broaden his horizons rewarded even if his presence is yet to have the desired result on the pitch.
Cluj are sitting 12th in a 16-team league. Zouma is yet to taste victory, meanwhile, in any of his three Liga I appearances.
“It was the best option for me. There is a part of me that says, ‘let’s discover new things’. I am happy to be part of this team,” Zouma adds, having been reunited with his former Al-Oroboh teammate Karlo Muhar.
“My goal is to help the team succeed. I am happy to see the fans with us, I was welcomed in the best possible way. I know that we have to give the fans new reasons to be happy.
“I spoke to [Muhar] about four or five times and he kept asking me, ‘come on, when are you coming?’.
“I asked him how life is here, how are the people, how the city is. He told me that life will be good, that the family will be happy and he didn’t lie to me. I like it here because it’s quieter than in London, the traffic is ok!”
Cluj keen to keep a lid on expectations surrounding Champions League winner
Cristi Balaj, Cluj’s president, insists that Kurt Zouma will need some time to build his fitness again, having made the switch without the benefit of a pre-season. He will not be getting carried away, then, with the defender’s winless start to life in Romania.
“From our point of view, he still needs a period of preparation,” Balaj told Fanatik after that UTA Arad clash. “[As with] Slimani, it is clear that he played at a very high level. I have to talk to them.
“I was saying that Zouma needs a month from the moment he arrived. It is important that when he comes in [to start], he comes in very well.
“There is a magnifying glass on [these big signings], and it is difficult to change the first impression.”
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