Dzeko Opens Up About Near Chelsea Transfer

Unless you were inordinately busy over the past couple of weeks, you no doubt noticed that, once again, Edin Dzeko dominated the Roma transfer headlines. Much like his belabored transfer from Manchester City during the summer of 2015, his almost move to Chelsea played out in the papers for seemingly weeks on end. First there was rumored haggling about compensation, then came the contract length then came the stories that Dzeko’s bags were packed but he failed to convince his better half that a return to England was the right move.

This was all rampant speculation of course, but it made a bit of sense. After all, if you’re going to uproot your life, you owe it to yourself to strike the best deal possible, so few among us could fault Dzeko for driving such a hard bargain. But today Dzeko shed some light on the actual reasons why he’s still in Rome.

It’s true that negotiations were being conducted, and that’s all I can say on the subject...There was a lot of speculation, as well as false and even funny claims. I was really flattered by the interest from Chelsea, a club I really respect and admire.

In the past few weeks a lot of stories have circulated about me leaving Roma and yet I’m still here. In the end I’m happy to stay at Roma, because Rome has become my home and an indelible part of my life.

From the first day they’ve accepted me in Rome in an unreal way and I will never forget that, I’m tied to this city by some of the happiest moments of my life.

I felt the joy of fatherhood for the first time here when my little girl Una was born, and my son Dani was born here too...Roma is part of my life now, and it always will be

Source: Klix via Football Italia

Pretty candid stuff there from Dzeko. We tend to forget that these people are actual humans with thoughts and feelings, with children who have preferred doctors and schools and routines. So as much as we’d all like to channel our inner Rod Tidwell and simply scream show me the money, it’s a bit more complicated as it turns out.

Will this peek inside his inner sanctum endear Dzeko to the Roma faithful who hold him in contempt? Probably not, but for a club that deals so often in platitudes, it’s nice to see this sort of disarming honesty.

Now, if he could just be honest about why his goal scoring well has run dry, I think we’d all sleep a bit better at night.