Report: 26-year-old wants his wages almost doubled if he is to leave Chelsea this summer

West Ham United are reluctant to move in for Kurt Zouma unless the Chelsea defender lowers his pay package expectations.

This is according to the Sun, who claim Zouma’s sizeable wage demands are extremely off-putting.

Chelsea have recently been in contact with their city neighbours over the potential transfer of the France international.

David Moyes wants to add another centre-half to his ranks, in order to tackle the demands of European football.

Having already missed out on Fiorentina’s Nikola Milenkovic, West Ham would be interested in landing Zouma’s services this season.

However, any movement between the two London rivals is currently stationary.

This is because Zouma’s salary requests are seemingly too high for the Irons budget.

The Sun say he wants to double his current earnings from £65k-per-week to £120k-per-week.

If the 26-year-old wants to leave Chelsea this season, he is more than certainly going to have to lower his requirements.

Following the sudden emergence of Trevoh Chalobah, Zouma is seemingly at the very bottom of Tuchel’s centre-back pecking order.

Antonio Rudiger, Thiago Silva, Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta all rank above the former Saint-Etienne man.

He will fall even further down the line if the Blues manage to sign Jules Kounde this month.

There is just under two weeks before all transfer deals must be finalised; just enough time for Zouma to find his exit route.