 Leyton Orient spotted him playing in one of his school matches as a 14-year old and signed him.After two seasons in Orient's youth team, Zakuani was given his first-team debut against Bournemouth in March 2003, aged 16.In the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons, he became a regular in Martin Ling's plans, making the central defence position his own and scoring three goals in almost 100 first team appearances for Orient.