From Sarajevo to Milan: Edin Dzeko's journey

They called him 'Kloc'. Lamp post. This was when he was playing for Zeljeznicar, in Sarajevo. He was still just a boy and, with his dad, he would take two buses and a tram to go to training every day. He was tall and played in midfield at the time. But more than a lamp post, this was a swan. The swan of Sarajevo.

Edin just wanted to play football. But the bomb sirens robbed him and his friends of the joy of a peaceful childhood. For theirs was lacerated by war. Naturally, this is something the Bosnia striker, born in Sarajevo on 17 March 1986, has never forgotten.

We all have dreams when we are kids. Edin's was simply to be able to play football without the fear of having to hide when the sirens sounded. He also wanted to make his dad proud by becoming a footballer.

He succeeded in that mission – and then some. After a few seasons at Usti Nad Labem and Teplice in the Czech Republic, in 2007 he joined Wolfsburg in Germany. In the 2008/09 season he helped fire Wolfsburg to their first and only league title, finishing the campaign as the Bundesliga top scorer on 26 goals.

Edin then moved to Manchester City and left his mark on the Premier League, scoring a a 92nd-minute equaliser as City defeated QPR on the final day of the season to claim their first league title in 44 years. Another one followed two years later.

After joining Roma in 2015, he finished the 2016/17 season as Serie A top scorer with 29 goals and went on to rack up 119 goals in 260 games in all competitions for the Giallorossi.

Dzeko is Bosnia's all-time top scorer, with 59 goals in 114 appearances, and helped his country qualify for their first major tournament, the 2014 World Cup.

Two of his most frequent sayings are “I don't like easy things” and “Football is never enough for me”. Now Edin will put all of his passion and ability at the service of Inter as the first Bosnian to play for the club. We wish him the very best of luck for this new adventure in Nerazzurri colours.

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