Boss Jose Mourinho believes young Kurt Zouma could one day take over from John Terry as Chelsea leader.
Despite his young age, the 20-year-old is slowly becoming a regular in Mourinho's defensive department and was also deployed in a defensive midfield role against Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup final last Sunday.
He is yet to feature for the French national team but the Portuguese says it won't be long before manager Didier Deschamps asks the defender to join his squad.
"[Kurt] Zouma is now 20 years old and one day he will be 23, 24 and a player with great maturity, probably even with leadership to replace John [Terry]," Mourinho told the club's official website.
"This season he is playing more than I expected, more than he expected and more than everyone expected so he is getting experience levels which are very important.
"I am not the French national coach and I respect Didier Deschamps totally, but I would not be surprised if Zouma gets his first cap, and then when he gets caps with France when he is playing with Chelsea at this level, his development will have an acceleration and in two or three years' time, even being very young, he will be a stable player.
"We bought him because of his physical profile.
"We were not happy with his tactical knowledge but we trusted we could give him that. When in pre-season we saw mistakes from him I thought okay, no problem, but it will take time.
"But he is bright, he is humble and he wants to work and learn and he is listens to everything, and he had an acceleration in that process to bring him to a level where he is competing with Gary Cahill to play.
"He has played in some big matches and it looks like he can cope with it."
