Chelsea make another enquiry for Real Madrid midfielder Mateo Kovacic — report

According to the Daily Mail, Chelsea have made an(other) enquiry for Real Madrid midfielder Mateo Kovacic. It’s unclear how to this related to the first reported enquiry, back at the start of the month, whether it’s something new, something continued, or something just rehashed.

At the time, Kovacic was busy playing for Croatia in their historic World Cup campaign that lead them all the way to the final. Kovacic didn’t have his best game against France that day, but the same could be said for most of his teammates as Les Bleus collected their well-earned trophy.

Given his exertions just two weeks, Kovacic is still miles away from club duty, literally, enjoying his days of rest back in his home country.

Kovacic could be a younger alternative transfer target to Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey, who’s also on Chelsea’s shortlist. Both players would be a good fit for attack-minded role in Maurizio Sarri’s three-headed midfield. Manchester City are also interested, as they should be after losing their main midfield target Jorginho to Chelsea.

However, even though Kovacic wants to leave Madrid to get more playing time, Madrid are not keen on allowing his exit. He would also undoubtedly be very expensive, though that’s hardly a unique quality these days. Not that Ramsey would be any easier to get, though at least his contract situation — only one year left on it — does mean that Arsenal will have to make a decision about his future soon.

As commendable as it is that Chelsea continue to be linked with big-money midfield signings (Milinkovic-Savic, Kovacic, Ramsey, even Vecino), there’s also a good argument to be made for simply trusting Ruben Loftus-Cheek to step up and challenge for that third spot next to Kante and Jorginho.