This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
ESPN have recently come out with a new report stating Manchester United have taken an interest in Roma’s Edin Dzeko, but the Italians simply can’t afford to let their Bosnian diamond go.
What’s the word, then?
Even though Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s troops are currently set with their forward line, the Red Devils’ coach is looking to add more experience and pedigree to his attack.
Both Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford have been decent in the current campaign and the emergence of Mason Greenwood is a pleasant surprise, as ESPN have explained, but a proven goal-scorer is needed to get the team back on track.
Watch Italian Football Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below
Dzeko, who’s 33 years of age by this point, is exactly what they need and despite Ed Woodward initially not being on board with signing players in their late 30s, Solskjaer wants someone of his profile to join.
But looking at the situation from Roma’s point of view, Dzeko is definitely one of the Gladiators they simply can’t afford to lose.
Too big of a price to pay
Simply put, and even though he is already 33, Dzeko is far too important a piece of the jigsaw at Roma.
And yes, they have scored 20 goals in 12 Serie A games but the Bosnian diamond is their top scorer with five goals to his name. At first, that might not sound like a lot but considering only Aleksandar Kolarov with four and Nicolo Zaniolo with three have more than two goals to their name in the ongoing campaign, the picture becomes clearer immediately.
[ad_pod ]
Apart from Dzeko, there is only Nikola Kalinic at the club who is a natural centre-forward, but the Croat is also 31 and has only managed to muster three appearances in Serie A this season.
If the 33-year-old was to leave for Manchester United, there would simply be no one at the club to take over the mantle and a huge piece of their jigsaw would suddenly be taken away.
Of course, from the Red Devils’ point of view, it does look like a great deal.
Their forward line looks rejuvenated with Martial and Rashford but adding in a bit of experience and proven goalscoring ability really could help them improve even further.
After all, Dzeko has spent some time in the Premier League while he was donning Manchester City’s colours and back then, managing to score 72 goals and assist a further 39.
For that reason, it’s fairly safe to assume he’d be able to transfer his lethality from the Serie A back to England and to Solskjaer’s troops and the Norwegian coach could potentially deploy him at the centre of his attacking line, flanked by two pacy wingers.
To further cement his reputation as one of the best in the business, Miroslav Blazevic, former Switzerland, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina coach, once dubbed Dzeko as “better than Ibrahimovic” and the Bosnian is truly showing that despite age slowly catching up with him, he is still very much an important part of the squad.
His departure, without too much exaggeration, would be a disaster for Roma but quite a scoop for Manchester United.
