An open letter to Edin Dzeko:
Son, as a Manchester City fan I’ll make no secret of the fact that I’m delighted you’ve decided to join the Blue Revolution at this stage of the season. Nevertheless, I believe you should know what you’re getting yourself in for and be fully aware of the true size of the challenge you’re about to face.
I understand you had a difficult time in Bosnian football, where your qualities were not recognized in early days of your career. Back then you were a figure of fun, and picked up the nickname "Kloc" – the local slang term for a lamp-post. When your club picked up a check of €25,000 for you transfer to the Czech Republic five years ago, they blew most of the money on champagne because they couldn’t believe their luck in landing such a handsome fee for a player who they classed as utterly useless. The rest is, of course, history. Your talent prevailed and the good people of Zeljeznicar will today feel like they’ve been dum as, well, Klocs.
Being a Sarajevo child you’re no stranger to hard times, so your days with Zeljeznicar must have been child’s play when you consider the horrors of growing up in a state of war. Life must feel easy to you now, not even 25 yet, having developed a reputation as one of the best strikers in Europe. Trust me son, it’s about to get complicated. If you expect having it easy, you’ll be training in the wrong side of Carrington. It may not be what you’d like to hear, but the least I can do is be totally honest with you. You see, honesty is something that will be in very short supply from the moment you pull a sky blue shirt on.
Don’t get me wrong: the club will welcome you with open arms, as they have other players who took the step of joining the blue revolution. Pay cheques aside, Man City are known for looking after their players and taking certain personal circumstances into account- but unfortunately you won’t be living and playing inside a blue bubble.
You won’t get honesty from the media. Firstly, forget your name. You’re no longer Edin Dzeko. From this day forward, you will be known as £27m Dzeko. The price tag will always be written or spoken before your surname. If you think that’s annoying, think again- you’ll also be referred to as “prima dona”, “underachiever”, “flop”, “pampered millionaire”. What if you’re actually scoring goals, you might ask? Sorry, it won’t make an ounce of difference. Mario Ballotelli has made 11 appearances since joining City, scoring eight goals. If you looked in the papers this week, you’ll have seen yet another piece of , erm, “news” linking him with a move to AC Milan because “he has failed to settle in England” (sic). Robinho (sorry, that’s £32m Robinho), scored 16 goals in his first season with City which you probably will think is a decent return for an attacking midfielder, but didn’t shield him from being constantly slated for scoring mostly in home games. Nothing that is written or spoken about Manchester City has to be true these days… as long as pleases the right parties and has the potential to unsettle the club or its players..... Follow Link