Last season, we saw Denis Zakaria’s loan spell at Chelsea not turn out very well.
Following an agreement between the Blues and Juventus, the midfielder spent an entire season at Stamford Bridge, but barely left the bench there, and only made 11 appearances for the London side.
His experience at Chelsea was now recalled in an interview with RMC Sport, and the now AS Monaco player had a long conversation about the clubs he’s been at.
It started with the French outlet asking Zakaria how it feels to have a major role in a locker room after the complicated situation in the past couple of years, with them specifically mentioning Chelsea.
“It feels good. Honestly, it’s been a long time since I last played so many matches. It’s true that for all football players it’s a very important thing to play, to continue. So yeah, I’m really, really happy about that,” Zakaria told RMC Sport.
The midfielder was then asked about what he learnt after spending so much time without playing at Juventus and Chelsea.
“I think in the end it wasn’t easy but it was the moment when I learned the most in my career. After a period like that, you learn that nothing is taken for granted and you always have to work to be where you want to be. It made me think a lot. I try to work as best I can to live through this kind of period, because for a player it is very, very complicated.”
Following his return from Chelsea last summer, Juventus decided to put Zakaria up for sale and negotiated his future with Monaco, who spent €20m on his purchase.
The midfielder has become an important player at the French side, with 12 appearances so far, and that was probably the best outcome he could have imagined.
