“Negative circle” – Sporting director explains why it’s not going well for Denis Zakaria at Chelsea

Denis Zakaria seemed like a bit of a last-minute deadline day panic signing from Chelsea if we are going to be completely honest here.

Chelsea suddenly decided that they wanted and needed to sign another new midfielder before the summer window closed, and then we started hearing reports of last-minute scrambles to sign three or four midfielders, and eventually it got down to Zakaria, who they ended up loaning in from Juventus for the season.

Sources: Chelsea monitoring Juventus midfielder, as well as Southampton goalkeeper!

Zakaria is yet to make a single appearance for Chelsea, and the manager change might be having a negative effect on this. Graham Potter doesn’t seem to rate or trust him at the moment, and he will have to do a lot to earn some game time.

However, Christoph Spycher, who witnessed Zakaria’s steep rise at BSC Young Boys as a sporting director there at the time, believes Zakaria can still turn it around.

“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,” said Spycher, as relayed by 4-4-2, when asked about Zakaria’s current situation.

“Denis can assert himself, but he needs confidence and top form. He’s in a negative circle at the moment because he’s not getting any playing time,” Spycher said. “He needs two or three games in which he can show himself. And then, of course, he has to perform.”