Kurt Zouma is one of the more exciting young defenders that Chelsea could be linked to as the Blues seek to build a new dynasty under Jose Mourinho. 18 years old and already polished enough to feature regularly for St. Etienne in Ligue 1, Zouma is a truly enticing young prospect -- and well worth his supposed asking price of 12 million.

Happily, he's interested in us as well:

If you hear of interest from Chelsea and a great manager such as Jose Mourinho, you take notice. It makes you happy, and it means you are on the right way to the top. I am relaxed about all the fuss about me being linked with big clubs, at the moment my focus is on the Under-20 World Cup. We have to try to win that with our generation of good young players. -Source: Sky Sports.

Ignoring the under-20 World Cup talk for now (although you should watch the France team now that we've been linked to both Zouma and Sevilla midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia), I'm pretty happy that Zouma and Chelsea are being talked about in the same sentence. This is exactly the sort of move that smart, forward-thinking teams make -- Real Madrid picked up Raphael Varane from Lens under similar circumstances two years ago, and while he represents a best-case scenario, his success demonstrates just how valuable these young players could be.

Also, Mr. Emenalo... if you're looking at St. Etienne players and get bored of the Edinson Cavani pursuit, there's a certain Gabon international striker who might be worth a look.