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Chelsea right-back Davide Zappacosta has joined Roma on a season-long loan.
The 27-year old Italian international, capped 13 times at senior level by his country, joined Chelsea in August 2017 for a fee of €28 million (£23 million), signing a four and a half year deal with the West London club.
However, he has failed to establish himself as first-team regular at Stamford Bridge, making just 4 Premier League appearances last season, although he did feature more in their successful Europa League campaign. He has not featured at all for the club this season.
Zappacosta joins David Luiz and Gary Cahill as senior defenders who have left Chelsea this summer.
His departure though clears the way for youngster Reece James to become understudy to Cesar Azpilicueta at right-back, once he has recovered from the ankle surgery which has ruled him out of the start of the season.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.