It was like a foreign country for...
Martin Dahlin (Roma, 1996-1997)
The Giallorossi currently line up with Serie A’s most feared strike-force – Fabio Capello’s side can even leave Vincenzo Montella on the bench. Yet, Roma experimented long and hard before finding the right formula, making the odd unsuccessful manoeuvre along the way. One such failure was Martin Dahlin.
The bulky Swedish striker arrived from Borussia Monchengladbach in the summer of 1996. At the World Cup in 1994 he had shown his credentials and bagged 28 goals in 60 caps for his country. Particularly strong in the air, Dahlin was expected to add a new dimension to Roma’s South American pairing of Daniel Fonseca and Abel Balbo.
Instead, Dahlin looked a pale imitation of a player who had scored for fun in Germany with a knee injury serious curtailing his progress. In fact the only thing to shine was his oversized silver earring. He made just three Serie A appearances, none of them memorable and spent most his time sitting in the stands before he completely fell out of favour with Coach Carlos Bianchi.
Dahlin handed in a transfer request and was sent back on loan to his former club before joining Blackburn Rovers in England, where he made just 13 starts in two seasons, moving to Hamburg and was eventually forced to retire from the game. |
Born:
Lund (Sweden), 16/4/68
Position:
Row X, Seat 41
Serie A games: 3
Serie A goals: -
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