Chelsea Set to Complete £22m Roma Deal But Edin Dzeko Unlikely to Join Full-Back in London

Chelsea are closing in on the signature of Roma full-back Emerson Palmieri, however any potential deal for teammate Edin Dzeko looks to have hit a roadblock, with the player's agent insisting the target man wants to stay in Italy. 

The Blues were said to be interested in a double swoop involving the Serie A giants, with Emerson targeted as competition for current wing-back Marcos Alonso. 

According to Goal, that switch is becoming ever more likely, as the Stamford Bridge hierarchy appear to be close to a £22m agreement with their Stadio Olimpico counterparts. 

The report claims that the 23-year-old is expected to join Chelsea on a long-term deal, with the aforementioned transfer fee split between £17.6m up front and £4.4m in performance related add-ons. 

The Brazilian's representatives are continuing to negotiate exactly what those final stipulations in the deal are, however one transfer that is not so far along is the Blues' pursuit of fellow teammate Dzeko. 

It has become common knowledge that Chelsea are keen to add a bullish striker to their ranks this winter, with the west Londoners rather bizarrely linked to West Ham United's Andy Carroll before Stoke City's Peter Crouch. 

However, another named touted has been the former Manchester City frontman, but, according to the player's agent, it seems the 31-year-old is not keen on a return to England.

“No, I don’t know anything about this”, Irfan Redzepagic, the Giallorossi striker’s agent insisted in an interview with romagiallorossa, as quoted by Football Italia. “I have no information to that effect. Dzeko is already a Roma player, you know that.

“Look, every time we talk about Dzeko the names of clubs like Chelsea, Chinese clubs, Mexican clubs come up. These are just rumours. The truth is that Dzeko wants to stay at Roma.

“Have I spoken to Conte or Chelsea? My role means I can’t reveal certain transfer market dynamics. I understand the question, but I have a very specific role.

“All I can say is that Conte likes Dzeko. But then who doesn’t like Edin?”