Article by Alexandru Tomuțiu – Published Friday, November 14, 2025, 2:47 p.m. / Updated Friday, November 14, 2025, 2:51 p.m.
Kurt Zouma (31 years old), the central defender from CFR Cluj, remembered with pleasure the fact that he was a colleague of the former Romanian international Bănel Nicoliță (40) during the time he played for Saint Etienne.
Zouma spent part of his youth at Saint Etienne, then played for the senior team between 2011 and 2014, before being transferred by Chelsea, the team he won the Champions League with.
Kurt Zouma, about Bănel Nicoliță: “I think he gave me an assist or two. What a person!”
Bănel Nicoliță was also the “green” footballer between 2011 and 2014. The French stopper had words of praise for the former Romanian footballer.
“I remember him, yes. What a lad! When he was there I'd just got promoted to the big team. I think he gave me an assist or two. What a person!
Banel Nicoliță, playing for Saint Etienne // photo: Imago Images
He was always fighting on the field, running, I liked it a lot. I didn't talk anymore. In football, it happens that people take it in different directions”, said Kurt Zouma, according to digisport.ro.
Zouma, a Champions League winner with Chelsea in 2021, signed for the Gruia-based side in September. He played only 4 matches in the shirt of the “railwaymen”, that too because of medical problems.
He is the most valuable footballer in the Superliga in terms of market share (8 million euros). He has 11 matches and one goal for the French national team. CFR is 12th in the championship, with only 16 points.
In his career, the Frenchman has played for Al Orobah, Everton, Stoke and West Ham.
