Chelsea loanee Denis Zakaria backed to turn things around after torrid start
Cameron Smith
- 17 Oct 2022 07:55 BST
- 3 min read
Graham Potter's arrival at Chelsea has seen a vast improvement on the pitch for the West London side, but the Englishman's appointment hasn't changed the fortunes of loanee Denis Zakaria.
The Swiss international joined the Blues on a season-long loan deal on transfer deadline day, but is yet to play a single minute for the club.
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Zakaria, 25, played 13 times for Juventus after joining the Serie A giants from Borussia Monchengladbach in January 2022, but was deemed surplus to requirements by the Turin club. He was one of three central midfielders to depart Juventus this summer, alongside Arthur Melo and Aaron Ramsey.
Similar to Arthur, however, Zakaria hasn't enjoyed a particularly fruitful start to life in the Premier League.
Chelsea have an option-to-buy included in Zakaria's loan deal, but as things stand it's unlikely they choose to activate this option given how unfancied Zakaria currently is.
The 25-year-old has featured on the bench in all of Chelsea's opening four Champions League group-stage fixtures, but his first appearance on the bench in the Premier League came in the Blues' 2-0 victory away to Aston Villa.
Even with midfield engine N'Golo Kante out injured, Potter has preferred Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho in the midfield pivot, with youngster Carney Chukwuemeka even getting minutes off the bench against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
According to reports, Potter hasn't been impressed by Zakaria since arriving from Brighton & Hove Albion and is in fact keen to send the Swiss international back to Juventus before his loan expires. However, unless Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri is sacked, then this option is deemed unlikely.
Despite Potter's current opinion of Zakaria, the former Borussia Monchengladbach star has been backed to succeed at Stamford Bridge by Christophe Spycher, who is chief sports officer at Young Boys, the club Zakaria played for before joining Gladbach.
What has been said?
Spycher believes that Zakaria's knee injury, which kept him out for 21 games in 2020, hasn't helped him at Chelsea. He told 4-4-2: "Denis is certainly unlucky. He had a fantastic development in Gladbach, was one of the most dominant midfielders until his injury. This came at the worst possible time for him."
"Denis can push through, but he needs confidence and top form. He’s in a negative circle at the moment because he’s not getting any game time.
"He needs two or three games in which he can show himself. And then, of course, he has to perform."
