Gazzetta dello Sport’s Saturday article on Edin Dzeko is amusing.
The Italian newspaper haven’t done anything wrong, but what’s said about the player’s will, and how little it seemingly matters, perhaps shows footballers don’t always get what they most want.
Friday saw ‘lots of contacts, many telephone calls’ to try and get Dzeko to Chelsea agreed. Despite that, the outcome won’t be known before the end of the weekend at the earliest, the Italian newspaper explain.
Gazzetta then go on to say there have been claims the transfer collapsed, and answer that with: ‘Actually the deal can stay alive until the final lap, on January 31st, even if Edin Dzeko doesn’t really want to move to London.’
Eh? If Dzeko doesn’t want it then it would be odd for Chelsea to continue their pursuit. Perhaps there’s a little doubt from the player and that’s been added to an Italian belief that of course nobody ever wants to leave the country.
The problems in the deal are said to be a lack of agreement between Chelsea and Dzeko and Roma not finding an alternative striker yet.
Having just bought a house in Rome, Dzeko is settled and isn’t blown away by Chelsea’s contract offer.
He’d get a big pay rise in London, but a contract until 2019 instead of 2020 like his Roma deal, and Gazzetta say he’d basically earn the same amount in a shorter time.
