WHY I LEFT CHERRIES, ZEMURA FINALLY OPENS UP
BOURNEMOUTH — Jordan Zemura has opened up on his departure from Bournemouth for the first time since leaving on a free transfer to Italian Serie A outfit Udinese.
He says he has “no regrets”.
Zemura left Cherries after four years at the expiry of his contract to move to Italy.
Since moving to the Italian Serie A, Zemura has made 16 appearances across all competitions, including seven starts.
After Zemura and his agent failed to engage in transfer talks, Cherries dropped the leftback from the first team picture, before sending him to train with the development squad when it became clear he had a pre-contract arrangement with Udinese.
Zemura described the end to his time at Vitality Stadium as a “fiasco” but felt that the time was right to move on.
In an interview with Breaking The Lines, Zemura explained: “It was a tough moment for myself.
“It was my first experience of all of that fiasco going on.
“It was difficult — I’m not going to sit here and say that I took it on the shoulder and moved on.
“It’s always tough because it’s a place that
I’ve been there for so long.
“Four years is a long time, especially in my development, a lot happened in that time period.
“But it was more of less, I think for myself, coming through the ranks at Bournemouth, I needed to make that move by myself, go somewhere else and become a man.
“To live somewhere else, not be seen as an academy player coming through from the 21s to the first team.
“Then Udinese came about, and it wasn’t something I could really turn down. It was something that was so promising.
“Not only was I given the opportunity to live in Italy, learn another language, (but also) to play at such a great club.
“For me, this is something I will always look back on in my career and be very, very grateful to Udinese for giving me this opportunity.” He added:
“Because at the end of the day, as a footballer, you have to challenge yourself, because that’s the only thing you’re going to remember.
“Your career is not 50 years — it’s more 10, 15, 20 if you’re lucky, but more or less it’s not a long time.
“So for myself, at such a young age, I thought ‘you know what, let’s go an experience something else that is going to push myself’.
“I’m proud of myself now, living in another country, I’m playing for such a club.
“No regrets, you can’t have any kind of regrets in football because it goes so fast.
“Seasons come, seasons go, literally. It happens like that.”