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As if Liverpool's recent acquisition of Fabinho and Chelsea's ongoing reluctance to cease their beloved penny pinching weren't enough, AS Roma's Edin Dzeko has come out to shed some light and say a few final words about his brief transfer saga in January. Speaking to Bosnian TV channel FACE TV (via Goal), Dzeko revealed that “nobody” wanted him to make the switch to London in the first place, thus leading to him remaining in Rome.
While the Blues ultimately pulled off a good deal to secure the services of the lovable beard enthusiast, Olivier Giroud, the Bosnian striker's move to Chelsea was actually perceived and reported as being a 'done deal' at one point in January.
“Chelsea is a big challenge and I know what kind of a club that is, I’ve been at Man City and I wasn’t ready to move to Chelsea. Nobody I spoke to wanted me to move to Chelsea so I decided to stay.
“It has been tough period, a lot of stories and information, true and false, were written, everything went through my head, I wasn’t clear or certain of anything at the time.”
The line “I know what kind of a club that is” seems a bit worrying, though it’s probably nothing. He probably just means that he wouldn’t have been indisputable first-choice anymore (though as Giroud showed, Morata’s spot was there for the taking). Plus, Dzeko would’ve been cup-tied and he presumably wanted to continue playing in the Champions League. As it turned out, his decision to stay was the correct one, as Roma made it all the way to the semifinals while Chelsea were knocked out in the Round of 16.
Still, there could be a potentially deeper meaning to the way this saga unfolded and eventually finished. Even in the restricted time-window of January, it represents yet another lengthy pursuit of a player to end in ultimate disappointment and failure. After weeks of inquiring, preparing, readying and so forth, Dzeko joined the likes of Cavani, Stones, and Koulibaly, just to name a few, whom Chelsea did not succeed in convincing to join the club.
In Dzeko’s case, even as he talks boldly of his love of Rome and the like, part of the reason was undoubtedly financial as well. Giroud represents a much smaller commitment than Dzeko and while that may be a smart move as far as the books are concerned, it means that we’ve basically had to skip out on our primary transfer target.
We’re going to have to do better than that, starting with finally sorting out who’s actually going to be the head coach for next season ... which starts in 75 days (one week less if you count the Community Shield).