Kurt Zouma’s Injury And Why Young Players Matter To Fans

Chelsea FC defender Kurt Zouma suffered a nasty ACL injury last weekend. His misfortune takes away one of the few joys in this campaign.

I haven’t enjoyed watching Chelsea play this season. I doubt many Chelsea fans have enjoyed watching Chelsea play this season. Only extreme, royal blue-wearing masochists could possibly be enjoying the club’s slouch to mediocrity.

One of the few bright spots in a pitch-dark campaign had been the play of Kurt Zouma.  My dreams are still tormented by visions of Harry Kane’s demolition of Gary Cahill on New Year’s Day last year, and Zouma replacing him as first choice center back alongside John Terry had eliminated my desire for Xanax when I saw a pacey striker on the opposition’s line up sheet.

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News that Zouma will miss six months following the horrific knee injury he suffered in the Manchester United match is devastating, and to say the injury came at a bad time for a player who was emerging as one of the top young defenders in the Premier League is a cruel understatement. Zouma was displaying the composure and positional awareness generally associated with players several years older, and his pace made Cahill look like the star of a 90-minute slow motion replay.

Not a whole lot was known about Zouma when he was bought from and immediately loaned back to St. Etienne in 2014. We knew he was only 19-years-old, and we knew he was involved in a very unfortunate challenge that resulted in an opposition player breaking his leg.

Young players are bought and loaned out frequently at Chelsea, and the arrival and departure of a player before he has even had time to have a cup of tea in London barely registers as news anymore. The effectiveness of this model has been the topic of much debate, but there’s an eagerness amongst supporters to start seeing more significant first team involvement from the club’s younger players.

Playing a sport at the highest level is extremely difficult. Sometimes we forget that. Cesc Fabregas makes hitting a cross-field pass that lands perfectly in stride with Diego Costa look easier than the struggles Arsene Wenger has with zipping up his over-sized coat.

When a wide-eyed, fresh-faced player still unable to legally order a drink in the United States steps onto the pitch with wobbling, nerve-wracked legs it reminds us that the quality we see on display each week from the sport’s top participants is extraordinarily unique.

The difficulties young players have when they are adapting to the skill and frenzied speed of top-flight football humanizes the game in a way that an established top player’s apparent effortlessness can’t. We can see a bit of ourselves in a 19-year-old defender’s woeful attempt to track an elite striker’s darting run. I say this fully aware that if I were placed on the field in the middle of a Premier League match I would be hiding behind the corner flag praying that no-one noticed me nor kicked the ball in my general direction.

The first time I saw Zouma play was in a Chelsea pre-season friendly against AFC Wimbledon. I was watching the match on a weekend morning through what I’m sure was a completely legal online stream and I can remember how overwhelmed he seemed at times. His judgement on aerial crosses in particular was nowhere near the standard required at the top level.

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Even against League Two opposition, Zouma appeared unsteady and unsure of how to conduct himself in the center of Chelsea’s defense.  There were moments when his raw talent would shine through the uneasiness, but overall he seemed to be a player who was going to require considerable development to make it in the Chelsea first team.

Witnessing that development take place at a rate that would have surprised even his most ardent supporters has been one of the joys of the last two seasons. Like proud parents beaming at the sight of their child who used to try and eat glue graduating from college, fans love to see a player go from an awkward but talented prospect to a superstar all while wearing their team’s colors.

Sports fans are generally described as fickle, but we have a strong capacity to appreciate a player fighting through early adversity to realize his dream.

ACL injuries are historically pace-zapping nightmares for players. Anyone who’s been unfortunate enough to watch Radamel Falcao attempt to play striker after his ACL injury (Chelsea fans!) would attest to this. There is thought, because of his age, that Zouma will be able to rebound better than most from this setback.

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For the club, its fans and most importantly for Zouma himself, let’s hope that’s the case. No one likes to see someone’s dream cut short, especially when you watched that dream come true.