AS Roma striker Edin Dzeko is on Chelsea’s rather surprising striker shortlist and at the moment (also rather surprisingly) seems the most attainable option for the Premier League champion.
Reports of ongoing talks regarding a double deal to sign the Bosnian as well as his club teammate Emerson Palmieri has been making rounds in recent days with the latest suggesting an agreement is close to being reached.
The player, however, was named in Roma’s starting XI that faced rivals Inter in Sunday’s crunch fixture which ended 1-1. The game was tagged as a possible farewell game for the 31-year old by the press with the director of football at the club, Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo commonly known as Monchi hinting in a pre-match statement that any player at the club can be replaced.
“Whatever will be will be,” Monchi said. “I work every day to have players suitable to replace our players, my job is always to strengthen my club. “If [Dzeko] leaves Roma, we’ll buy another player. – Ibtimes”
This has been taken in the press to mean a deal is very close to happening as Chelsea is believed to have offered about £44 million to secure the services of both Dzeko and Emerson.
Edin Dzeko is a player with Premier League experience after playing for Manchester City until 2015 when he joined the Rome-based club on an initial loan deal and has gone on to score 61 goals for the club in 117 appearances.
Emerson on the other hand, returned to action recently after recovering from a serious knee injury that kept him out of action for the first half of the season. The 23-year old operates at left-back and is seen as a viable back up for Marcos Alonso at Stamford Bridge.
