Your manager or your star striker?
For a while it looked as though Roma would have to choose between Paulo Fonseca and Edin Dzeko after an unseemly row kick-started a dramatic dip in form that threatens to leave a once promising season in ruins.
Now, however, it appears both coach and player will be bidding farewell to the Stadio Olimpico in the near future.
The increasingly unpopular Fonseca will leave in July with Maurizio Sarri expected to take his place (Corriere dello Sport).
FC Inter News, meanwhile, reports Roma are in talks to cancel Dzeko’s £125,000-a-week contract despite the fact his deal has 15 months left to run.
Stripped of his captain’s armband after that fall-out with Fonseca, Dzeko has also scored only 11 goals in 32 games this season. And, with Roma looking to raise funds to cope with the covid crisis, the now 35-year-old Dzeko feels like a fitting sacrifice – modern-day legend or not.
In January, TalkSPORT reported Everton and West Ham United were weighing up bids for a striker who lifted the Premier League title twice with Manchester City.
At the time, signing the big Bosnian would have felt like an odd decision – from both a financial and sporting perspective. Dzeko is, after all, a 30-something centre-forward who commands a yearly wage of almost £7 million.
But if Dzeko does become a free agent it’s tempting to look at things differently, even if West Ham have been burned before by big-name veterans.
As recently as last season, Dzeko scored 19 times in Roma colours. In fact, he has been one of the most consistent, reliable centre-forwards in Europe since he swapped the Etihad for the Italian capital.
A natural-born leader on and off the pitch, players such as Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Jarrod Bowen and Richarlison would only benefit from sharing a dressing room with a six-time trophy winner who has more than 100 international caps under his belt.
At 35, Dzeko still has plenty to offer.
Roma’s decision to let him go speaks more about their financial situation than it does his enduring quality.
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