Kovacic, haven't heard of him till now, what are his strengths and weaknesses?

3 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

It's not really home grown players we need to worry about, it's the non homegrown players. We don't actually need 8 home grown players, but we can't have any more than 17 non homegrown players. If we wanted to, we could fill up the other 8 spots with players under the age of 21.

Green, Cahill, Fabregas, Moses, Drinkwater, Loftus-Cheek, Barkley and Christensen are our 8 home grown players at the moment, with Ampadu and Hudson-Odoi taking two under 21 spots. We are fine with our home grown spots even if we ditch Drinkwater.

Either way, we need to move someone on don't we? Who do you reckon it will be?

Bringing in another midfielder surely means that Bakayoko is more than surplus to requirements and it would make sense for all involved for him to move on but it's just a question of whether there are any takers. 

Will be interesting to see which of the midfielders get a run out this evening, you would think if we're looking to sell or loan any of them they wouldn't get many minutes because you wouldn't want to risk an injury. 

So we take him on loan, he improves under Sarri and gets regular playing time, then goes back to Real Madrid and takes a first team spot. Not sure it's ideal unless we are promised a loan with option to buy. At the moment I've read there's no option to buy after the loan. 

1 minute ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Either way, we need to move someone on don't we? Who do you reckon it will be?

Bringing in another midfielder surely means that Bakayoko is more than surplus to requirements and it would make sense for all involved for him to move on but it's just a question of whether there are any takers. 

Will be interesting to see which of the midfielders get a run out this evening, you would think if we're looking to sell or loan any of them they wouldn't get many minutes because you wouldn't want to risk an injury. 

If Kovacic does come in, then it's very likely somebody will go. Drinkwater or Bakayoko will be the obvious ones i would think, i hope it's not Loftus-Cheek. We already know what we are going to get out of Drinkwater and Bakayoko, a whole load of nothing. Loftus-Cheek is unknown and i would rather we gave him a chance at least. 

It's looking like it all comes to down to if Courtois stays of goes. If he goes, then i can see Drinkwater leaving, if he stays then Bakayoko will need to go so we can free up space for Kovacic.

Amazing signing if true. Gives us the second best midfield in the league behind Man City.

wow. 

hope this goes through as long as there is reasonable buyout clause.

Not too worried about the non homegrown quota, Courtois will leave, hopefully so will bakayoko, and I can't see all 3 of morata, giroud, and Batshuayi staying either. 

12 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

Kovacic, haven't heard of him till now, what are his strengths and weaknesses?

Box to box attacking midfielder. Got pretty much everything in his locker. Really good offensive player who is a great dribbler. 

4 minutes ago, Total-Football said:

Amazing signing if true. Gives us the second best midfield in the league behind Man City.

Certainly don't believe that. If he was that good, Real Madrid wouldn't have him sat on the bench and would integrate him somewhere in the first team. I haven't seen nowhere near enough of him tbh, but I read he's a good player. Just how good is anybody's guess. 

Edited August 7, 20187 yr by enigma

3 minutes ago, enigma said:

Certainly don't believe that. If he was that good, Real Madrid wouldn't have him sat on the bench

In all fairness he does have Luka Modric (probably one of the top 5 midfielders in the world) and Toni Kroos ahead of him, not many players getting minutes ahead of those two. 

Option to buy? pleease

5 minutes ago, enigma said:

Certainly don't believe that. If he was that good, Real Madrid wouldn't have him sat on the bench and would integrate him somewhere in the first team. I haven't seen nowhere near enough of him tbh, but I read he's a good player. Just how good is anybody's guess. 

James Rodriquez was sent on loan, Robben & Sneijder sold. There are more hits than misses on Madrid’s bench.

57 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Who's going to score the goals though? We need more goals in that midfield and none of these 3 will supply many goals, they have 11 between them in the last 3 season's. None of them assist many goals either. It would be fine if we had winger's and striker's that can score often, but at the moment only 1 winger seem's capable of doing that for us.

Kovacic used to play #10 for Inter in 2015 and scored a few from there.

He would be a brilliant signing/loan deal. 

Add Zaha/Fekir/Martial to the mix and we’ve actually had a very good window.

Would be a very exciting signing, if true and exactly the kind of a player we're missing in our midfield.

4 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

In all fairness he does have Luka Modric (probably one of the top 5 midfielders in the world) and Toni Kroos ahead of him, not many players getting minutes ahead of those two. 

And with Casemiro holding the DM spot, there really was no reason to rotate and play Modric or Kroos more defensively.  I believe Isco would fill in as an attacking midfielder last season, as well, wouldnt he?  So that’s already 4 players for 3 spots, without even counting Kovacic.  Understandable that he didn’t see the pitch.

Brilliant move. The transfer window suddenly feels a lot better now! 

Im praying there is an option to buy, he’s a brilliant player and actually is one of my favourites. So happy.

9 minutes ago, JMaher94 said:

Kovacic used to play #10 for Inter in 2015 and scored a few from there.

He would be a brilliant signing/loan deal. 

Add Zaha/Fekir/Martial to the mix and we’ve actually had a very good window.

Yes. That’s a big ask in the remaining time and a goalie also needed. 

18 minutes ago, enigma said:

Certainly don't believe that. If he was that good, Real Madrid wouldn't have him sat on the bench and would integrate him somewhere in the first team. I haven't seen nowhere near enough of him tbh, but I read he's a good player. Just how good is anybody's guess. 

Name me a midfielder at United, Liverpool and Tottenham who play for Real Madrid? Kovacic plays a similar role to Modric, the best in the world in that role.

If we get Butland and Kovacic sewn up today, then that leaves us 2 days to get a big signing wrapped up. 

I feel it will be Fekir or Zaha.

3 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

If we get Butland and Kovacic sewn up today, then that leaves us 2 days to get a big signing wrapped up. 

I feel it will be Fekir or Zaha.

Much prefer Fekir. Better output and more intelligent player. Will add balance to the right side of the attack and give us the second best team in the league IMO.

20 minutes ago, mwblue10 said:

And with Casemiro holding the DM spot, there really was no reason to rotate and play Modric or Kroos more defensively.  I believe Isco would fill in as an attacking midfielder last season, as well, wouldnt he?  So that’s already 4 players for 3 spots, without even counting Kovacic.  Understandable that he didn’t see the pitch.

True. I forgot about Casemiro to be fair. People saying he is close to being one of the best midfielders in the world though, it's just odd Real Madrid would not keep him and play him more. Maybe in place of Kroos? I had heard that Kroos hasn't been in that great of form last season. 

5 minutes ago, enigma said:

True. I forgot about Casemiro to be fair. People saying he is close to being one of the best midfielders in the world though, it's just odd Real Madrid would not keep him and play him more. Maybe in place of Kroos? I had heard that Kroos hasn't been in that great of form last season. 

The three they have are amazingly balanced and they also have Isco who is better then Kovacic. Real Madrid are stacked in midfield and Kovacic is the unlucky guy as he lacks anything that would give him a starting spot (Not Spanish nor a big name). When he played he was very good and one of their best performers.

I don't know much about him, but if he is the box to box midfielder as he is being described then that's perfect for what Sarri needs.

This seems to be building momentum quickly, and given the players seems desperate to leave, combined with the fact we are presumably already negotiating with Real over Courtois, it seems one of the more likeley ones to go through...

Magnificent player.

 

Another player who was a City target that we pipped them to if this goes through.

If we can get Kovacic on loan for a year can we also find somebody to take Baka on loan? ;)