There are three major attributes Jose Mourinho likes in a player – experience, size and natural-born leadership.
So, with the Portuguese tactician making a sudden and unexpected return to Serie A today, it suddenly seems unlikely Edin Dzeko’s much-discussed Roma exit will go ahead as planned.
After all, Dzeko ticks every one of those boxes. Tick, tick and tick again.
Last week, FC Inter News reported Dzeko, the third-highest goalscorer in Giallorossi history, was destined to see his £125,000-a-week contract terminated this summer.
Mourinho’s arrival will almost certainly change that.
It’s no secret Dzeko and Paulo Fonseca didn’t see eye to eye. The 35-year-old Bosnian was stripped of the captain’s armband following an unseemly row in the winter and forced to train by himself while being left out of February’s clash with Hellas Verona.
At the time, talkSPORT reported former Manchester City striker Dzeko was in line for a return to England, with West Ham United and Everton both in the market for a proven, prolific number nine.
But Fonseca’s exit, and Mourinho’s subsequent arrival, represents the fresh start Dzeko was waiting for at the Stadio Olimpico.
In January, The Mirror reported Tottenham – Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham no less – were keen to sign the two-time Premier League winner. Seven years earlier, Mourinho was effusive in his belief Dzeko should have won the division’s player of the year award ahead of Luis Suarez.
In short, Mourinho’s admiration for Dzeko is well documented.
“My player of the year would always be from the champions,” Mourinho said at the time, via The Guardian.
“I would choose Dzeko. He was the third striker at the beginning of the season and, when the team needed him in crucial moments, he made the difference.
“He has 16 goals – 16 for the third striker is something spectacular. He’s not just a goalscorer – he assists, he plays.”
Seven years on, Dzeko is a more rounded player than ever. His goalscoring record is nothing short of remarkable and, at 35, the 2009 Bundesliga champion could take on a role similar to the one Zlatan Ibrahimovic played at Mourinho’s Manchester United.
So if Everton or West Ham plan to renew their interest in the evergreen striker, they may be barking up the wrong tree.
Dzeko and Fonseca looked destined to end in a messy divorce. Dzeko and Mourinho, however, could be a match made in heaven.
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