Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma explains how he was named after actor Jean-Claude Van Damme

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Vaishali Bhardwaj8 February 2017

Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma has opened up about how he was given his unusual middle name 'Happy' but admitted his optimistic outlook on life has helped him recover from the serious knee injury he sustained last year.

The Frenchman, 22, started Chelsea's recent FA Cup games against Peterborough and Brentford before being brought on as a late substitute in the 3-1 league win over Arsenal at the weekend.

His inclusion in Antonio Conte's most recent matchday squads comes with the centre-back having fully recovered from a cruciate knee ligament injury that he suffered in the draw against Manchester United a year ago.

Now fully fit and ready to win his place back in Chelsea's first team, Zouma admits his happy nature has helped him recover mentally from his serious injury - which is all the more fitting because his middle name is 'Happy'.

In an interview with The Mirror, the defender explained how his father gave him his unusual middle name while revealing his first name was inspired by the 1989 Hollywood movie Kickboxer, in which Jean-Claude Van Damme plays the character 'Kurt Sloane'.

"Yeah, it’s true," Zouma said when asked if he middle name is indeed 'Happy'. "It was my father.

"When my mother was pregnant, my father was watching a Van Damme movie. He was killing everybody and fighting everyone.

In Pictures | Chelsea vs Arsenal | 04/02/2017

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"And my father said, ‘Yeah, this one we’re going to call him Kurt because he’s going to be strong and Happy because he’s going to laugh every time.’

"Now when I see them I say, ‘Daddy, I respect you. Every time I laugh and I’m big and strong. Thank you, Dad.’

"I am a happy character. Every time, I laugh. You see me laughing every time everywhere, for nothing. You say ‘ABC’, I’m gonna laugh. I fall on the floor. I don’t know why. That’s my character."

When then asked about how hard it was to come back from his injury, Zouma said: "If you are mentally good, your recovery is going to be better and quicker. That’s my philosophy.

"If you give up and you’re sad every day you’re going to struggle. I keep laughing. I’m still young, enjoy the life. I’m a footballer, I have a great life. So let’s laugh."

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