Mateo Kovacic

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

48 minutes ago, the wes said:

Real Madrid have offered to loan Mateo Kovacic to Chelsea in order to persuade them to sell Thibaut Courtois, according to Sky sources.

get it done Chelsea board 😊😊😊

and...we will improve him and after 1 season he will leave?!

[Special Juan 27,422]

We all win with this deal, big nose fucks off, we get another dynamic midfielder and we get a really top young keeper coming to us.

[Spike 12,049]

2 minutes ago, manpe said:

How does he fare under pressing? Good at keeping the ball, composed, or more towards Bakayoko? How are his long-shots? How many goals approximately does he have in him per season? Does he move towards the ball and ask for it or does he rather just wait for the ball to come to him?

I'm no expert but I'd trust him under pressing due to his dribbling. He doesn't really score at all, my friend. Whenever I've watched him (only a few times really) he never did anything 'Wow!' but he also didn't do anything that made me scratch my head and think 'What was he thinking?'.

[manpe 10,861]

1 minute ago, Spike said:

I'm no expert but I'd trust him under pressing due to his dribbling. He doesn't really score at all, my friend. Whenever I've watched him (only a few times really) he never did anything 'Wow!' but he also didn't do anything that made me scratch my head and think 'What was he thinking?'.

You and akg have both said that he isn't a goal threat. This worries me, since we don't have many goal threats up front either. Can we clone Lampard?  I would be ecstatic if we had a finisher up top though, say someone like Diego Costa... I just don't want us to become a possession-based team with no end product (read: Arsenal). But let's see...

[Spike 12,049]

3 minutes ago, manpe said:

You and akg have both said that he isn't a goal threat. This worries me, since we don't have many goal threats up front either. Can we clone Lampard?  I would be ecstatic if we had a finisher up top though, say someone like Diego Costa... I just don't want us to become a possession-based team with no end product (read: Arsenal). But let's see...

You want some goals? Pick up Aaron Ramsey, mate. Seems to be the only thing he is good for.

[akgw13 867]

Matt Law in a tweet about Kepa mentioned the loan for Kovacic so that is a big name confirming our intentions for kovacic.

@manpe I am worried about goals from Midfield as well, but this guy is crazy talented and could chip in somewhere like 5-7 goals a year, maybe more if he adapts to the system. Madrid deployed him deep and obviously had the goal threats. The key is he is extremely athletic and hardworking while possessing technical skill. Useful skills for Sarri

[El P. 1,354]

2 minutes ago, manpe said:

You and akg have both said that he isn't a goal threat. This worries me, since we don't have many goal threats up front either. Can we clone Lampard?  I would be ecstatic if we had a finisher up top though, say someone like Diego Costa... I just don't want us to become a possession-based team with no end product (read: Arsenal). But let's see...

With this midfield we will create so many chances that Giroud - Hazard - Willian should be enough (for top 4).

Kovačić is not great shooter, but could score at expense of his dribbling ability.

Don't be worried, Willian and Pedro are old, we will replace one of them next summer with some goal-scorer and that's it. And get rid of Morata/Michy/Giroud and buy decent striker. Kovačić to Chelsea is too great of an opportunity not to take it....

[manpe 10,861]

6 minutes ago, Spike said:

You want some goals? Pick up Aaron Ramsey, mate. Seems to be the only thing he is good for.

I don't want Ramsey, think he's slightly above average tbh.

[akgw13 867]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/08/07/chelsea-agree-world-record-71m-fee-sign-athletic-bilbao-goalkeeperkepa/

 

The arrival of Croatia international Kovacic on loan will raise further question marks over the futures of Tiemoue Bakayoko, Danny Drinkwater and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

 

Bottom of the article, seems to confirm the Kovacic Loan.

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

Still haven't seen anything definitive on the option to buy at the end of the loan.  I've seen reports saying yes, others saying no.

[Tomo 21,733]

13 minutes ago, manpe said:

You and akg have both said that he isn't a goal threat. This worries me, since we don't have many goal threats up front either. Can we clone Lampard?  I would be ecstatic if we had a finisher up top though, say someone like Diego Costa... I just don't want us to become a possession-based team with no end product (read: Arsenal). But let's see...

With the new attacking system and more dominant footy we should be roughly looking around these numbers for goals in the league.

Hazard 15, striker the same (i think even Morata would get close to that number in this system) whoever starts out of Pedro and Willian 10, the front 3 back ups 10-15 between them, i would fancy Barkley to chip in with about 5.

So that's 60 ish goals already, the big question mark is can the rest get the 10-15 more we will likely need between them?

[Pizy 18,368]

4 minutes ago, Sideshow Luiz said:

Still haven't seen anything definitive on the option to buy at the end of the loan.  I've seen reports saying yes, others saying no.

Yeah, this is the only thing that would put a bit of a damper on the deal. If we can buy him next summer it'll be a massive coup. If not then we end up chasing a midfielder all next summer until deadline day.

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

1 minute ago, Pizy said:

Yeah, this is the only thing that would put a bit of a damper on the deal. If we can buy him next summer it'll be a massive coup. If not then we end up chasing a midfielder all next summer until deadline day.

You're not suggesting that the board would know that a player was leaving at the end of the season, then wait until the last possible minute to get a replacement are you?

 

[OneMoSalah 8,776]

Everyone is talking about goalscoring midfielders but honestly look at Madrid or Barca’s MF? Xavi Iniesta Busquets never scored more than 10 plus goals but were an excellent trio. Modric Casemiro and Kroos the same. Even at Napoli under Sarri Jorginho, Allan, Hamsik.. Hamsik was the only guy who scored goals out of the three and even then his numbers have slowly dropped from his days of playing under Matzarri.

Goalscoring midfielders (who play as an 8) are a bit of a dying breed in my eyes because everyone wants controllers/playmakers. 10s score goals but they aren’t really CMs (guys like de Bruyne etc are 10s who play as 8s). Guys like Barkley and Fabregas can score goals if they have a bit more freedom. I think Kovacic can too but he’s not going to get 10+ a season. Pogba and Ramsey are about the only top level goalscoring midfielder players I can think of in the PL who are pure number 8s. Maybe Naby Keita will do a job for the bin dippers in that regard too. Even then looking at Barca last season, Paulinho scored the most goals from their central midfield players but was sold off straight away...

Personally I think the big problem will be if Hazard, Pedro, Willian, Morata, Giroud and Batshuayi don’t score say 50 or 60+ goals between them or whatever this season, our Mf will create chances now if this deal comes off and it all falls together quickly there is no doubts about it but if the front of the team doesn’t fire yeah we will find it tough.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

46 minutes ago, manpe said:

What type of player is he? What's his style, what are his strenths and weaknesses (please no whoscored screenshots)?

 

[11Drogba 2,000]

He will play on the left side of central midfield close to Hazard right. Imagine them doing one twos and dribbling towards opposition defense.

[DDA 9,690]

I would be absolutely gutted if there is no option to buy at the end of this loan. 

Putting that aside, it is still a great addition for this season. It also means that we are finally looking at proper players.

No more Drinkwaters ffs.

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

Where's @Unionjack?

He hasn't started his party without us, has he?