5 players for whom the pre-season can be telling

Edin Dzeko was able to score only 10 goals in his first season with Roma

While football fans across the world are still patiently waiting for the European league seasons to kick off, the players are hard at work. Those involved in the latter stages of Euro 2016 have jetted off for brief vacations but the rest are sweating it out in different parts of the world, trying to get in the best shape they can for the new season. 

For players who haven’t had the best of recent games, this represents a fresh start. The chance to go through the pre-season grind, emerge in top shape and hit the new season running with swagger and confidence. Even the players who have had satisfactory performances the year before, they have to prove themselves all over again, because when the new season starts, all the teams will start from zero points, the table will be level and sky will be the limit.

That I can write the last line not as a cliched statement that just sounds good, but can actually come true with the recent fairytale stories of Leicester City, Wales, Iceland and even Atletico Madrid is a fact that makes it all the more enthralling. 

So, let’s take a look at the players for who the pre-season this year is extra important: 

Edin Dzeko (Roma)

Edin Dzeko was meant to be the perfect striking solution for the Serie A club. He had amassed an incredible 163 goals in 331 appearances in the Bundesliga and the Premier League (including a lot of appearances in Manchester City as a super-sub) and had the technique and intelligence to thrive in Italy.

Things, however, didn’t go according to plans and he has accumulated a rather embarrassing video collection of missing goals that you would expect a centre-forward of his calibre to bury with ease. 10 goals in 39 appearances for Roma don’t sound as terrible as the criticism he’s drawn, but he should be doing a lot better. 

The pre-season is absolutely imperative for him to prove he has a place at the club, and he’s started off in fine style with 4 goals in Roma’s first pre-season game earning praise from Luciano Spalletti, the Roma manager. There’s a long road to go yet, though if he is to remain Roma’s first choice centre forward.