Denis Zakaria had just finished training with Juventus when a call came from his agent. The summer transfer window was in its final hours but there was a loan offer on the table from Chelsea. The midfielder didn't know any of his potential teammates. Nor would he have anyone to live with on the outskirts of London. Yet there was no hesitation.
"It’s Chelsea, you can’t say no," was Zakaria's reply to his agent. And so began the frantic process of his loan move to Stamford Bridge being finalised. "It was very, very late – everything happened in six hours so it was very fast," the 25-year-old says during an engaging interview at Cobham in which he speaks English well and smiles often.
"It was not an easy solution. But in the end, I am a player and I also need this challenge to be better. For me, I am better when I take challenges. I like challenges. That's why I am here. I want to prove I can do it and I will give my best that's for sure. To change everything, like the language, is not easy but I think I can do it."
