Manchester City’s leading goalscorer, Edin Dzeko, is determined to be more than just an impact substitute, despite scoring four of his six goals so far this season when coming off the bench.
The Bosnian has been brought on to inspire his side to wins at Fulham and West Brom in 2012-13 as well as netting four for his country in World Cup 2014 qualifying.
And, despite acknowledging that he is happy to fulfill his manager’s needs and to play in a squad rotation system, the former Wolfsburg man admits that he wants to play every week.
“The manager is there to pick the team and I’m there when the team needs me,” he told reporters, “but I was never a super-sub, even before I came to Manchester City.
“I always used to play from the beginning [for Wolfsburg] and I scored a lot of goals – not as a sub.
“In the last few games the situation has been like this and I’m just happy to be scoring goals but I will never be a super-sub, I want to play.”
City coach David Platt has played down fears of Dzeko becoming unsettled due to his lack of starts, claiming that the striker will get as many chances as any other of the club’s forwards.
“Edin won’t have that tag [of super-sub] because he will get his starts like every other player will get their starts,” the former England international told reporters.
“We’ve got 24 players, four of them are on the treatment table, so we had a squad of 20 to pick from against West Brom. Edin came on and got his two goals and has put himself firmly in the manager’s thoughts for Wednesday night [against Ajax].
“But we will pick a team on what we think is right for Ajax and the one after that.
“Edin has been in superb form, not just goalscoring-wise, and towards the end of last season he was coming off the bench and doing well – but when he has started he has done very well, as well. He is a top, top player.
“People should be disappointed when they are not in the team but the reaction you want when they come on is that they fight for their team and they have all done well.”