Originally meant to be going to Fiorentina, Chelsea’s Mario Pasalic, after some alleged interfering from Roman Abramovich himself, ended up going out on loan to Atalanta instead.
Starting his season in great fashion, the Croatian midfielder has, however, seen his performances drop considerably over the past few weeks.
Going from scoring two goals and three assists in his first four games to not doing anything of note since, the 23-year-old’s form has mirrored that of his club, and he’s very aware something has to change.
Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport during an autograph session in the club’s megastore, he said: “I need to be honest: at this moment, I’m not playing like I did before and I want to grow to get to the level that I belong in. I need to work more to adapt to Atalanta’s way of playing, like Gasperini told me.
“Furthermore, the role I’m playing in is different to the one I’m used to, and I need to adapt”.
Jumping from club to club since he arrived at Chelsea from Hajduk Split, Pasalic hasn’t known what consistency is in a very long time, and he’s now made it clear that’s what he wants.
He continued: “I like it here. In the past, I’ve changed shirts so many times and it isn’t easy. I’d like to stay somewhere for three or four years in one place. We’ll see how this campaign goes and we’ll sit down afterwards. I need the right city and the right club to improve. I know that if I do well, I can show that I can be one of the greats”.
At the age of 23, Pasalic has all the time on his side to achieve his goals, but like a lot of the Chelsea players loaned out every year, he’s got a far better chance of doing so away from Stamford Bridge, where few reserve players get first-team opportunities.
Perhaps that will change with Maurizio Sarri.
