Chelsea completes £12m signing of St Etienne defender Kurt Zouma

Chelsea have completed a £12m move for 19-year-old St Etienne centre-back Kurt Zouma.

The France Under-21 player has agreed a five-and-a-half-year deal with the Blues, but will stay at St Etienne on loan for the rest of the season.

Zouma has made 12 Ligue 1 appearances for the French side this season.

Born in Lyon, Zouma joined St Etienne as a 15-year-old in 2009 before turning professional two years later.

He has made 52 appearances for the club, scoring four goals.

Mourinho spoke in glowing terms about the teenager but said that Chelsea have completed their business for this window.

'He’s a young player in the profile of some Chelsea signings in the last couple of years,' said the Chelsea boss. 'We like the profile. We think he can adapt to the PL.'

Zouma was being closely monitored by several Barclays Premier League clubs despite being banned for 10 games in November for a tackle which left Thomas Guerbert of Sochaux with a broken leg and dislocated ankle.

Mourinho added: 'If we don’t do it now, we can’t do it in the summer because other clubs were strong on him. He will join us for pre-season and ew will see if it is to stay or go on loan. He is a young player for a position where we need a future. Job done, and he stays at St Etienne.

'He is very young but he is playing already a couple of seasons in St Et and many international matches for the youth teams. He is a player with good potential. Physically he is ready but it is another thing to be tactically ready. So well done Chelsea, this is the last one in the transfer window. In almost every position we have the present and the future.

'No more signings. The squad is short. Even players like Kalas is needed. We have 20 for the PL and 18 for the CL. We are there. We let Michael and Ryan go to play. We can’t let other go. We need the squad.'