Jose Mourinho brutally mocks ex-Premier League footballer over ‘cat incident’
Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho has mocked the former West Ham United defender Kurt Zouma over his cat abuse.
Zouma, who now plies his trade in Saudi Arabia, was disgraced three years ago when a video was released showing him abusing a cat in his kitchen.
The backlash was extreme and he was later prosecuted by the RSPCA for his actions before pleading guilty to two counts under the Animal Welfare Act when he appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court in London in 2022.
At the time, under David Moyes, Zouma was fined two weeks’ wages worth £250,000 by West Ham and sentenced to 180 hours of community service and boos then followed him wherever he went as the public court of opinion spoke volumes.
Speaking on the situation, Zouma said: ‘It’s been a tough time for me and for my family,’ he said. ‘We’ve been through a lot. I made a mistake, I know – I made a bad one. I have to say sorry again for what I’ve done, but life is about moving on.
‘My wife and my kids, my family, everybody around me, even at the club, the lads, the fans, people have helped me through everything. It affected me but they helped me and I’ve kept a smile on my face, because that’s who I am.’
In regards to Mourinho’s comments, it was a case of a ‘classic Jose’ line as he was asked by John Obi-Mikel on his podcast about his pet interests before launching into his tongue-in-cheek comment. ‘Dogs,’ Mourinho told the Nigerian. ‘But I don’t have any problems with cats. I’m not Kurt Zouma.’
Previously, Mourinho showed his affiliation with dogs after he was asked about his Christmas while in charge of Tottenham in a pre-match interview, revealing his dog had passed away.
An emotional Mourinho said, “To be honest, it was very sad because my dog died and my dog is my family. But we have to move on.”
Zouma was brought into the Chelsea first-team setup by Mourinho in his second tenure but the pair had an erratic relationship, with the manager once calling him rubbish after a performance but also claiming he could emulate John Terry in the long-run as a leader at Chelsea.
Mourinho later told Chelsea from afar that they don’t need to spend heaps of money on players, including defenders because Zouma was ‘right there’.
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Zouma’s career since West Ham
Despite the intense media backlash, Zouma remained as West Ham’s captain as confirmed by David Moyes at the time. At the time, he said:
“I think he’s thriving as captain and he’s learned a lot from mistakes in football – and life as well – and I think he’s a better human being for it.
“He’s doing a great job for us so far this season.” Interestingly, he remains contracted to West Ham, despite having moved on loan to Al-Orobah for the season but he has made just nine appearances so far and is due to return in 2025.
Now 30, the Frenchman played over 100 times for West Ham and over 150 for Chelsea, winning seven trophies including the Champions League, Premier League and Europa Conference League with West Ham in 2023.
