Why it took Potter so long to debut the impressive Zakaria
With help from respected journalists and media outlets, The Pride of London explain why it took Graham Potter so long to hand the impressive Denis Zakaria a Blues debut.
Quite a few in the know Blues fans were excited when the clearly talented Switzerland international arrived as a late summer window loanee from Juventus of Italy. Some described the capture as an afterthought, but it was more Thomas Tuchel thought. And a signing which may end up ironically benefitting the German’s successor after a lengthy wait for game time.
Incidentally, Liverpool were also mentioned as keen admirers who almost secured the player. Soon after Zakaria’s arrival, Potter replaced Tuchel; the Swiss was nowhere to be seen in the team or among substitutes. Time went on and the player was still absent.
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Zakaria has been on the bench plenty but had no minutes for CFC up until the evening of November 2, versus Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League. Reasons for this have been suggested, yet it is essentially conjecture. Had Potter chosen his favourite midfielders and omitted the Geneva-born man? Possibly.
However, favouritism must be shown by a head coach or he’d never discover the elusive ‘best XI’. Potter seemed to regularly select similar options and alternatives to Zakaria in the middle. While N’Golo Kante remains sidelined, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic have been mainstays of the side.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Conor Gallagher have also been in midfield, but with generally more advancing roles. In October, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano divulged that the 25-year-old’s situation in London might be reassessed in January as he wants to be involved somewhere.
Simon Phillips recently revealed that fitness is essentially the reason why Zakaria has not featured for Chelsea, rather than the manager not rating him or something like that. Basically, the coaches wanted the defensive midfielder – who may be more of a No.8 for the west Londoners – to be match fit.
What Denis Zakaria said after a dream Chelsea debut
Zakaria gave a brilliant account of himself against Zagreb at Stamford Bridge, when finally given the chance. In addition to his particularly solid statistics, he also scored a well-taken goal. Afterwards, he said this:
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"It was very exciting and I’m very happy for that debut and for the goal,’ he beamed.‘My mind was only that I have to score! I shot as hard as possible and it went inside, so I’m really happy.‘It was important for me to play good, to do a good game and to help the team to win. The job is done and I’m really happy about that. It was an amazing debut for me. I’m proud.’– Denis zakaria"