Frank Lampard confirms transfer approach for French defender

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has confirmed that he had turned down multiple transfer approaches for Kurt Zouma during the summer transfer window.

The France international was hotly tipped to join Everton on a permanent basis but Lampard decided against the option of selling him shortly after he was made the club's head coach.

Speaking in a press conference, Lampard acknowledged that there was indeed transfer interest in Zouma but he always had the trust that the Frenchman would prove himself at the club.

He told: "He has been fantastic. There was a belief that I had in Kurt because there was interest in the summer after we all know he had a very good loan at Everton last year.

"But I believed in him as I believed in Tomori – that is why I made the decisions I made pre-season in terms of where we were going to look defensively."

Zouma has been almost ever-present for the Blues this season and he has missed just one Premier League game where he was absent due to a minor hamstring concern.

He has regularly partnered Fikayo Tomori at the heart of the defence but it remains to be seen whether that would change when Antonio Rudiger makes his first-team comeback after a groin problem.