On 17 December 2015, Zou suffered a fibula fracture and dislocation of an ankle joint in his left leg during the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup semifinals against Barcelona when he was knocked off balance by Luis Suárez. He received surgery twice in Japan on 18 December 2015 and 4 January 2016 respectively. Zou made his return from injury on 15 October 2016 in a 6–0 away win against Shijiazhuang Ever Bright. On 15 July 2017, he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 home win against Shandong Luneng. Zou was linked with a transfer to Tianjin Quanjian after the 2017 season. However, he eventually stayed at the club following a series of disagreements between Guangzhou Evergrande, Tianjin Quanjian and Shanghai Shenhua.