‘PLAY ME.. OR I’LL ZOUM OFF’

KURT ZOUMA has told Frank Lampard he wants first team football this season – because he is determined to play at Euro 2020.

The 24-year-old France defender is back at Stamford Bridge after a successful year’s loan at Everton, which left the Merseyside club wanting to buy him for £25million.

But new Chelsea boss Lampard has made it clear he wants him to stay.

Zouma knows he has competition for places this season from David Luiz, Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen, so it is going to be a battle for who occupies the two centre-back places.

But Zouma (left) last night made it clear he is not prepared to sit on the bench as he has only just fought his way back into Didier Deschamps’ team and wants to keep his place for the Euros after missing out on the World Cup last year.

He said: “That is very important for me. It was one of my targets to get into the France team. I had been there before and wanted to come back.

“Now the target is to play at the Euros, but to be there you have to be playing at your club, so I am working very hard.”

Zouma has spent the last two seasons out on loan, first at Stoke and then last term at Everton, as he fought his way back to fitness after rupturing knee ligaments in 2016 and being out for six months.

Lampard, hit by a transfer ban that means he cannot sign players this season, has insisted he wants Zouma to stay. “I want him here, simple as that,” he said. “If he competes and plays well this season, he plays.”

Chelsea face Barcelona tonight in Saitama in the last game of their Japanese tour.