I just came back from Split. Lovely city - well worth a visit. Croatian shirts on sale everywhere - Modric, Mandzucic, Rebic, Perisic etc. but didn't see a single Kovacic one. Must have all sold out in the last few days.

On 10/08/2018 at 15:28, RIP Mourinho said:

Real have apparently agreed a fee for Thiago. Kovacic replacement or Modric's successor?

I read that they want Erikson as Modric replacement if he leaves for Italy.

8 hours ago, Semper Fi said:

We will find out who stands corrected at end of season. 

You obviously don’t know how oirnclub works. We’ll find out in a blind panic on deadline day. 

Double post. 

Edited August 13, 20187 yr by Munkworth

We sold them a player who didnt want to be here and they loaned us a player who didnt want to be there. Looks lopsided on the face of it. 

A rosier POV would be they loaned him here to grease the wheels for Thibo and the club are going to try to buy him next summer, perhaps with an eye on a Hazard swap if he wants out of London.

I doubt there's a verbal agreement to sell him already bc if he does well there will be no shortage of suitors come June. 

It doesn't really matter if we have the option to buy him or not. What matters is top 4 - CL spot and then we will be able to buy whatever we need and even Kovacic.

16 hours ago, enigma said:

Haha @ "depth" I'd love for us to have so much quality that a player like kovacic was classed as a depth player. Lol

I didn't say he would be on the bench, i said he would add depth. Meaning we would have Jorginho, Kante, Barkley, Ruben, Cesc, Drinkwater and him to rotate.

18 hours ago, Kentonio said:

Don't know if he's a depth player, it sounds more like he's bigger than that. I haven't seen much of him, but I've heard a number of fans of other clubs talking about a Kante-Jorginho-Kovacic midfield as quite possibly the strongest in the league.

Just as i quoted enigma, didn't say he would be a bench player. His addition gives us depth, he could easily start with Kante and Jorginho. However now we have him, Jorginho, Kante, Drinkwate, Ruben and Cesc which is excellent for a long season.

6 hours ago, TrueBlueBIH said:

Just as i quoted enigma, didn't say he would be a bench player. His addition gives us depth, he could easily start with Kante and Jorginho. However now we have him, Jorginho, Kante, Drinkwate, Ruben and Cesc which is excellent for a long season.

The future is blue.

Thought he looked real Quality when he came on, looking forward to him linking up with Hazard this season. If we play like we did tonight for much of the season I don't think anyone will have any complaints.

Need to Address some obvious defensive frailties but in possession we looked slick and threatening. Very Pleasing.

He looked good on the ball tonight

Looked good when he came on. Confident and positive in everything he did. 

Think he will be first choice by the end of the month. 

Combined well with Hazard, they look like they're both on the same wavelength. Wish I could say the same about Barkley.

Great debut for him. Succeed to make an impact on the game, can't wait to see him more.

I really like Barkley and was encouraged by his performance however I fear that Kovacic May have pushed Barkley out of the team with that performance. 

 

Think we've got three Kovacic threads now.

30 seconds after he came on he was demanding the ball off the centre backs and trying to make this happen. 

I'm not the biggest fan of Barkley but I thought he played well today. 

Kovacic has to start though for me, he's on a different level.

Buy him as soon as possible.

I’ve said Kovacic was quality the whole time, he is the same class as Kante is, he’s going to take our midfield to the next level. Exceptional footballer

Class act.

Can see why Madrid would be reluctant to sell 

I also thought Barkley done well tonight, and competition for places can only be healthy, be good to RLF put himself in the mix too

 

Happy for Kovacic 

It baffles me how he couldn't get into the Croatian team though 

He looks remarkably like Eden on the ball, very silky, and very quick as well, going to be a massive asset

If today’s performance is a sign of things to come, we have got to make this loan move permanent.  He’s perfect for our midfield.