Roberto Di Matteo on Hazard, Azpi and Oscar transfers and Abramovich’s role

Jon Obi Mikel’s podcast is bringing plenty of interest for Chelsea fans, not only in terms of his insight, but also from the guests.

So far he’s had a few former teammates on, but this time he’s got his old manager Roberto Do Matteo, which is of course even more fascinating.

Di Matteo was the coach as Chelsea won the Champions League in 2012, but some of the most interesting parts of the interview were the parts where he discussed what happened after that – the transfers that summer.

That was when we made some huge acquisitions – Eden Hazard and Cesar Azpilicueta would both go on to be true club legends. Di Matteo’s memories of signing them are very interesting:

“The ultimate decision [on transfers] was always with Roman Abramovich. If you could make a good case for a player, he would be on your side. Eden Hazard was an easy one, he was the best player in France and Michael Emenalo liked him too.

“I made a good case for Cesar Azpilicueta, that was easy as well. I didn’t know much about Oscar, he was put forward by the recruitment staff. He was one for the future, but I brought him in and thought wow, he’s a really good player.”

As always, RDM is quick to play down any credit for himself. It’s interesting to hear about Abramovich having the final say on transfers – we wonder what deals that caused and which ones it cost us over the years?