Roma chief executive Mauro Baldissoni has claimed that Chelsea failed to meet their asking price to secure Edin Dzeko this month.
Antonio Conte’s side withdrew from a move for Dzeko last week and instead are pursuing Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud, with a deal understood to be worth around £18million set to be completed before the transfer window closes.
Chelsea were unable to agree personal terms with Dzeko but also found negotiations with the Italian club to be a struggle, Roma demanding £57.2m for a double deal involving the Bosnian striker and Emerson Palmieri.
Should Dzeko have left Roma would have had only one centre-forward in their squad, the 22-year-old Patrik Schick, and their CEO has claimed Chelsea never offered them a deal good enough to force their hand.
“We’re almost always in the Champions League, and then if an unexpected bid arrives for a player like Dzeko which could be considered interesting we have to evaluate it and see how the money could be used to remain competitive,” Baldissoni said on Radio 24.
“The offer must be taken into consideration. It’s clear that if we had to sell him we would have done, but we stuck to our asking price because it was an interesting opportunity.
“We’re very happy that Dzeko will stay, if he’d gone it would have been up to the sporting management to find other, equally competitive solutions.”
Chelsea did, however, manage to snare one Roma player in the form of Emerson, the left-back who officially joined the club yesterday.
Roma have made their move to find Emerson’s replacement, with Baldissoni confirming that Sporting Lisbon’s Jonathan Silva was undergoing a medical.
