Since signing for City in January 2011, Edin Džeko has had a rollercoaster ride to say the least. He’s been part of the very highest of highs, and the lowest of lows (on a personal level). A lot of fans are still a bit torn on the Bosnian but he’s slowly becoming one of the best players in City blue, and one of the big game players at the club with some of the vital goals he’s scored over the last couple of years.
A major criticism of Edin other than his workrate is his style of play, which definitely didn’t fit in with the type of game City were going for. He was slow, couldn’t control the ball a lot of the time and didn’t really make up for it in the goalscoring department; in fact, he went on long goalless droughts – as we well remember.
However that didn’t stop him stepping up with a goal when it was needed. The QPR title-winning game (THAT game) is a prime example. Despite having four strikers on the pitch, City couldn’t find the all-important goals, but Edin re-ignited the hope when he scored a header seconds into injury time. If he hadn’t scored that header we wouldn’t have won the league. It’ll forever be overshadowed by Agüero’s goal a couple of minutes later – and probably rightfully so – but that goal was just so important.
After that goal, it’s hard to find another that comes close to it in terms of important, but they’re scattered around. Wigan Athletic away in 2011-12, Everton and Palace away last season, West Brom away in 2012-13 and Spurs at home in November 2012 are just some examples, but if you look hard enough it’s clear to see how big a part he’s played.
That’s not to say his time here has been perfect, not at all. I’ve wanted him gone before, as I’m sure most City fans have. It’s just a good thing I’m not running the club, because he’s really turned it around in the past couple of seasons. He played a key part in the title-winning team when Carlos Tevez jetted off back to Argentina for six months, leaving us with just three strikers, and played a big part again last year (admittedly, not as much given Álvaro Negredo’s form). But to get to this stage from where he was a couple of years ago.
This abrupt change is the result of an improvement in his playing style, an adaptation to the way Manuel Pellegrini wants us to play. Whereas in the past Edin looked clumsy and weak at times, he’s the very opposite now. He still has his off games, but looks more comfortable on the ball and challenging for headers, looks more comfortable in attack and is striking up a very good partnership with Sergio Agüero.
A couple of months ago I wrote about who I thought would be City’s strike partnership this season, after Jovetić and Džeko had both had good starts to the season, but before Agüero was back to full fitness. It’s looking more and more likely that it’ll be Agüero and Džeko as each game passes, which is bad news for Stevan Jovetić but not so much for the big Bosnian, who’d likely be the one dropped if Jovetić came into the side.
I tend not to listen to other fans coming out of the ground after a loss, due to some of the opinions being spouted (usually by yours trule), but I distinctly remember a couple of years ago, a few months after Edin signed from Wolfsburg coming out of the ground and hearing “looks like a fucking waste of £27 million that does” and over time I came to agree with him. Not anymore. I can’t imagine Edin not being right here, right now.
