Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia has explained why the club moved to sign Malang Sarr.
The Blues announced the France u21 international's arrival on Thursday afternoon, making him the club's fourth signing of the summer transfer window and second in the space of two days.
Sarr has joined on a free transfer after leaving Ligue 1 side Nice at the end of the 2019/20 season and has signed a five-year deal with the Stamford Bridge outfit.
However, the 21-year-old is set to spend the upcoming season out on loan as part of Chelsea's plan to provide him with valuable experience before returning next summer.
Interest in Sarr has been high - with Arsenal among several clubs linked with his signature - and Granovskaia has broken her silence on why the Blues opted to move for the centre-back.
"The opportunity to sign Malang was one we could not miss," she told the club's official website.
"He is a tremendous prospect and we will be monitoring him closely during his loan period, hoping he will soon be back at Chelsea.
"We are very happy to welcome him to the club today."
Interestingly, Sarr could follow a similar path to Zouma after sealing his move to Chelsea.
In Zouma's case, he signed for the Blues in January 2014 having already played well over 50 first-team games for Saint-Etienne and was loaned back to the Ligue 1 outfit.
And after finishing the 2013/14 Ligue 1 season, he was fast-tracked into the Blues first-team by then-boss Jose Mourinho.
A serious knee injury has delayed his development but after loan spells at Stoke City and Everton, he's once again a regular for Chelsea - this time under Frank Lampard.
This could be an astute signing from Chelsea as former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira, who is now manager of Nice and worked with Sarr, once hailed the defender's leadership qualities.
"He has the personality of a leader," Vieira told Sport365 in 2019. "He answers simply and clearly. My role, with my staff, is to continue to make it progress, and to exchange with him so that he knows what the very high level is.
"We’ve seen it in the last few games, today Malang is better than it has been."
