Mark Hughes reckons Kurt Zouma is worth £40m – and his £7m Stoke loan deal is a bargain
Potters boss has admitted he wants the Chelsea loanee defender to stay at the club next season
MARK HUGHES reckons he got a £40million defender for just £7m in Chelsea loan star Kurt Zouma.
And the Stoke boss admits he already wants the Frenchman, 22, back again next season.
Zouma was ready to quit Stamford Bridge in search of regular football in a World Cup year before agreeing a bumper six-year deal and heading to the Potteries.
He returns at home to Southampton today after missing last week's 4-0 loss to Chelsea.
Some clubs shied away from shelling out the £7m loan fee.
But Sparky said: "We have to do that because we're not going to go into the market for a £60m player. We have to use every resource that's available to us.
"Kurt Zouma is a £30-40m centre-half. We can't afford that.
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"But in the loan market we can get him, so surely that's a good thing. We'll probably have to do that from this point onwards — use loans — that will enable us to get the quality we need.
"Kurt had a bad injury, Chelsea felt they weren't able to give him the game time which he needs now.
"But we're able to do that and we're going to benefit this year."
Last weekend's battering extended Stoke's winless run to six games.
But Hughes has been hindered by having to reshuffle his defence.
Zouma was ineligible against parent club Chelsea while Bruno Martins Indi and Ryan Shawcross are injured.
Geoff Cameron and Kevin Wimmer are also doubts today with hamstring issues.
Hughes added: "Bruno is out for two to three weeks, I would think.
"We are hopeful on Cameron. He's probably the one we feel has a good chance to take part."