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Roma chief confirms the club wanted Olivier Giroud to replace Edin Dzeko

Italian club Roma’s sporting director Monchi has said that club would have launched a bid for former Gunners star Olivier Giroud if Chelsea had met their demands for Edin Dzeko in January.

Roma chief confirms the club wanted Olivier Giroud to replace Edin Dzeko

Rome, Feb 19: Italian club Roma’s sporting director Monchi has said that club would have launched a bid for former Gunners star Olivier Giroud if Chelsea had met their demands for Edin Dzeko in January.

Giroud was limited to a starting role this season at Emirates after the arrival of former Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette as manager Arsene Wenger mostly selected the senior forward in the Europa League this season.

And once they decided to bring in another striker in Aubameyang, the former Arsenal number nine made the switch to the London side's arch-rivals Chelsea for £18 million for an 18 months deal with a fear of more less game time.

Before Giroud's transfer, Chelsea also enquired about Roma's Edin Dzeko as another potential recruitment and was almost on the verge of signing the player.

However, last-minute differences in the transfer fee and personal terms halted the arrangement although they did manage to buy another player of theirs, left back Emerson Palmieri for £17.5m.

Now, the Serie A club's sporting director Monchi has revealed that Giroud was top of Roma's list of transfer targets had Chelsea met the asking price for Edin Dzeko. The club also thought about signing another Chelsea player Batshuayi who eventually left for Dortmund for the rest of the season.

“We started talking to Chelsea about Emerson and only later did Edin’s name enter the conversation,” Monchi told Sky Sport Italia.

“They made us an offer and we replied with a new proposal. The English club never satisfied our demands and that is why the negotiations were not finalised.

“No club is happy to sell its best players, but if an important economic offer arrives, it’s impossible not to evaluate it. We certainly would’ve signed an important striker to replace him, perhaps Giroud, because otherwise, the fans would quite rightly have been angry.

“We have a lot of faith in Patrik Schick and Gregoire Defrel, but we would 100 percent have signed another forward if Dzeko had left in January.

“Along with Giroud, there was also the option of Michy Batshuayi. People talk about Schick being expensive, but so far we have only spent €6m on him and that is very important for us. He is a centre-forward who can also play on the wing.”

Since arriving at Stamford Bridge, Giroud has appeared in three consecutive matches and already registered one goal and three assists to his name.

Story first published: Monday, February 19, 2018, 14:11 [IST]
Other articles published on Feb 19, 2018