Jose Mourinho reckons Chelsea may not have to look far for John Terry’s long-term successor - thanks to surprise package Kurt Zouma.
But he believes it might be a while before Chelsea have a Terry-sized hole to fill because because his Captain Fantastic has plenty left in the tank.
Blues boss Mourinho confirmed Terry, 34, will get the contract extension he wants before the season ends - and predicted it won’t be his last.
And the Special One feels Chelsea already have one potential candidate to eventually replace him when the time comes in Zouma.
In pictures - Chelsea win the Capital One Cup:
Zouma, 20, shone as an emergency defensive midfielder in Chelsea’s Capital One Cup final win on Sunday but Mourinho insists his long-term future is in defence and said: “They (Terry and Zouma) are different players. Sometimes you get replicas of players.
“Other times you can’t do it, and if you can’t Zouma now is 20, so one day Zouma will be 23 or 24 and will be a player of great maturity and probably leadership, too, to replace John.
“Zouma is playing more than I expected, more than he expected, more than everyone expected. So he’s getting very important experience.”
Mourinho, who labelled Zouma Chelsea’s new Marcel Desailly, believes international recognition is also not far away for his rising star.
He added: “When he gets caps with France and is playing with Chelsea at this level his development will have an acceleration.
“We bought him because of his physical profile, but we were not happy with his tactical knowledge of the game.
“We trusted we could give that to him. In pre-season, I saw mistakes in Germany against Werder Bremen. Mistakes in Hungary against Ferencvaros.
“I thought ‘No problem, it will take time.' He’s bright, humble, wants to work and learn, listens and is intelligent, so he’s had an acceleration in that process to bring him to a level where he is competing with Gary Cahill.
“I thought in pre-season that Branislav Ivanovic would be my first option to replace John and Gary, but certainly not any more.”
While Zouma is the future, Terry is Chelsea’s present and remains as reliable and important as ever.
Ahead of league leaders Chelsea’s trip to West Ham on Wednesday night, Mourinho said: “This (replacing Terry) is a process we can take our time with because John is proving again this season that he is a player for years.
“If the fire (in him) is still there, this contract will not be the last contract he signs.”
Probable teams
West Ham Adrian; Jenkinson, Reid, Tomkins, Cresswell; Song, Noble; Valencia, Downing, Kouyate; Sakho.
Chelsea Courtois, Ivanovic, Zouma, Terry, Luis, Fabregas, Ramires, Willian, Oscar, Hazard, Costa.