14 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Because we could play anything up to 60 games this season I would expect a fair amount of rotation. We have no idea what formation we'll play this season but I would be extremely surprised to see Kovacic given much attacking responsibility simply because he isn't good at it. 

With Hazard gone a no recognised prolific goal scorer in the squad we'll be looking at as much of the team as possible to pose a scoring threat so my opinion is that RLC or Barkley will start almost every game in midfield. 

I don't think we can fully rule out Jorginho leaving either but that's another story. 

You’re not wrong he can put in a good tackle and looks positionally decent night not be bad having him deep to run the ball forward and start the attack moving but as last season showed kante and Jorginho can pretty much play all the PL games I wouldn’t expect them to rotate much except in cups, they are both better than him, that leaves RLC, Barkley and him for attacking, if Baka comes back he is already on rotation fir the deep midfield, we really didn’t need him but at least it’s one part of the pitch have plenty of options in. 

Its strange seeing kovacic show attacking threat. I think his time in madrid has really knocked his confidence in the final 3rd. He rarely played, and when he did, it was usually in a deeper position, where he seems to have gotten used to playing safe, and leaving the attacking responsibility to the bigger names around him. Mikel fell into the same predicament here, and lost much of his attacking edge he had as a teenager. 

Hopefully under lampard Kovacic can start to get that confidence back, and i feel if he can just get a goal or two, it will really help him get back to the player he was at inter. 

He will never be prolific, but i think he is more than capable of getting around 8 goals a season, and if he can do that aswell as putting in a shift defensively, and using his technique and dribbling ability to get us up the pitch, i think it will turn out to be a very good signing. 

 

It seems Chelsea put an article up confirming the transfer before an official announcement, and then they deleted it.

Nothing is kept secret anymore, we know what happens days or weeks before it happens.

I miss the days when I'd open a news page and a new signing is unveiled and it hits you in the face.

BOOM -  I thought Pedro was talking to Man Utd?
BOOM - Willian was at Spurs having a medical no?

Good times

On 28/06/2019 at 14:54, Argo said:

Liverpool are where they are by on the most part signing unfancied players and fitting them into a system. Many players in their team now would have been instantly dismissed had we signed them at the same time instead (for example signing Robertson from relegated Hull for £7m would have given him the tag of the Scottish Papy). United have gone wrong due to only thinking about the individual aspect of a player while we have in general brought well (2017 aside) we have brought players suited to a variety of different styles that has led to continuity problems.

Liverpool were universally laughed at for signing Robertson, Wijnaldium, Shaqiri, Mane and Salah (the first three from clubs that just previously went down) and even VVD caused a lot of raised eyebrows as he never played for a top level side before. By the sounds of it Lampard was given the last word on Kovacic and decided to give the deal the green light so obviously has some plans for him, aslong as he's played deeper, be it in a pivot or the two more defensive positions in midfield I think he may surprise you, putting Kovacic in the most advanced midfield position is the equivalent of putting Lampard in CDM when he was in his prime (not atall saying Kova will have the same type of impact) ie he'd have shown his talent at times but his unease at such an unnatural role would be clearly evident.

And Liverpool are a good example of a club making good decisions in the transfer market which have significatly improved their team. Again, Chelsea (and Utd ) have fallen behind because they've signed too many bang average players. Really, apart from Kante, over the last 3 or 4 years our signings have been pretty poor, so it should be no surprise we are a long way from being title contenders. One or two top quality players, like a VVD, improve a team far more and are way better valuse than 20 players of the level and price of a Kovacic. 

Liverpool, who don't buy success, did what they don't do. They bought success. They bought exactly what every person knew they need to buy: a top keeper and a top center back. Without them they would have been 10-15 points behind City and without CL Glory. 

Kovacic is not a player that makes a difference he is just a body we need atm. 

55 minutes ago, evissy said:

Liverpool, who don't buy success, did what they don't do. They bought success. They bought exactly what every person knew they need to buy: a top keeper and a top center back. Without them they would have been 10-15 points behind City and without CL Glory. 

Kovacic is not a player that makes a difference he is just a body we need atm. 

It's not buying success. It's spending your tranfer budgets very well. Liverpool splash out on two players who've massively improved the team, while we blow the same kind of money on garbage like Bakayoko, Bats, Drinkwater and now Kovacic.  

1 hour ago, Dixons said:

It's not buying success. It's spending your tranfer budgets very well. Liverpool splash out on two players who've massively improved the team, while we blow the same kind of money on garbage like Bakayoko, Bats, Drinkwater and now Kovacic.  

But that's kind of the point I made earlier, a lot of Liverpool's signings were supposedly average and garbage at the point Liverpool signed them and probably would have looked as much in other systems.

Would you have been happy had we signed Robertson, Mane, Wijnaldium at the time Liverpool did? All players that would probably flop in a system that relies on individual quality but instead now are key cogs for CL winners.

If Lampard has a modern system in mind and see's Kovacic or anyone for that matter as a key cog to making it work then he should get the benefit of the doubt.

Liverpool's success in the market is down to having a blueprint and buying suitable players even ones that on paper aren't that good. Had they had Mourinho incharge and signed the same players they did under Klopp most of them would have flopped and instead of praising the likes of Robertson, Mane, Fabinho and Wijnaldium we would all be taking the piss at how Liverpool spunked money up the wall on them.

Edited June 30, 20197 yr by Argo

1 hour ago, Dixons said:

It's not buying success. It's spending your tranfer budgets very well. Liverpool splash out on two players who've massively improved the team, while we blow the same kind of money on garbage like Bakayoko, Bats, Drinkwater and now Kovacic.  

This argument is irrelevant towards the  Kovacic signing seeing as we can't sign anyone for a year. 

The rest I agree with.

8 minutes ago, Argo said:

But that's kind of the point I made earlier, a lot of Liverpool's signings were supposedly average and garbage at the point Liverpool signed them and probably would have looked as much in other systems.

Would you have been happy had we signed Robertson, Mane, Wijnaldium at the time Liverpool did? All players that would probably flop in a system that relies on individual quality but instead now are key cogs for CL winners.

If Lampard has a modern system in mind and see's Kovacic or anyone for that matter as a key cog to making it work then he should get the benefit of the doubt.

Liverpool's success in the market is down to having a blueprint and buying suitable players even ones that on paper aren't that good. Had they had Mourinho incharge and signed the same players they did under Klopp most of them would have flopped and instead of praising the likes of Robertson, Mane, Fabinho and Wijnaldium we would all be taking the piss at how Liverpool spunked money up the wall on them.

Is this actually true though, we are really weak in midfield and have a big lack of goals. I personally think the club was signing Kovacic whatever for the only reason we cant sign anyone else, I wouldn't be surprised if Lampard thinks the same as what's the harm in signing the only player we can, we have nothing to lose really. Kovacic was rubbish last season but then Barkley wasnt much better, Loftus Cheek is injured, Mount is young, enough said about Bakayako. Normal summer and I cant see Kovacic anywhere near our squad but then maybe I have it all wrong.

2 hours ago, Argo said:

But that's kind of the point I made earlier, a lot of Liverpool's signings were supposedly average and garbage at the point Liverpool signed them and probably would have looked as much in other systems.

Would you have been happy had we signed Robertson, Mane, Wijnaldium at the time Liverpool did? All players that would probably flop in a system that relies on individual quality but instead now are key cogs for CL winners.

If Lampard has a modern system in mind and see's Kovacic or anyone for that matter as a key cog to making it work then he should get the benefit of the doubt.

Liverpool's success in the market is down to having a blueprint and buying suitable players even ones that on paper aren't that good. Had they had Mourinho incharge and signed the same players they did under Klopp most of them would have flopped and instead of praising the likes of Robertson, Mane, Fabinho and Wijnaldium we would all be taking the piss at how Liverpool spunked money up the wall on them.

Much credit should go to the Liverpool scouts who found the kind  of players that Klopp wanted and needed. Then we look at Chelsea's recent recruting. Flops like Morata can happen for any club, but who the hell looked at Bats and Bakayoko and could not see they have the ball control of a brick wall???  Just an inexcusable waste of a lot of money!

Well best be announced soon  cause he becomes registered as a Real Madrid player again on July 1st.

Tick tock.

CarefreeYouth tweeted that he was told they are waiting until July 1 because somehow they’ve swung it so that it goes on the FFP ledger for 2019-20 season.  He’s usually pretty reliable.

I'll actually be really happy if we've managed to keep him here. 

Official now. 

Officially announced by Real

 

 

Excellent!

Well, now that it's official, I hope he will be playing a deeper role next to Kante rather than playing in a more advanced position like he did for the majority of the time under Sarri.

I'm content with this signing.  It's not a signing that's going to turn heads, but I feel it's an important one.  Kovavic as a whole didn't have the best season but I see a lot of upside in him.  He's now got a year under his belt and Lampard may play him in a role that suits him better.  If we can get a big improvement out of him, which I think we can, it will end up being a really good signing.

Here's the official word from the club

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2019/07/01/mateo-kovacic-joins-chelsea-on-a-permanent-deal

Here’s hoping for a good season from him. 

All things considered he ended up being cheaper than first rumoured. 

I still think we’ll see him play a little deeper this season but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. 

39 minutes ago, Michael said:

I'm content with this signing.  It's not a signing that's going to turn heads, but I feel it's an important one.  Kovavic as a whole didn't have the best season but I see a lot of upside in him.  He's now got a year under his belt and Lampard may play him in a role that suits him better.  If we can get a big improvement out of him, which I think we can, it will end up being a really good signing.

I think it's safe to say forum member Croat has seen more of Kovacic than anyone else on here. His post on page 41 is very fair and imho gave important reasons for not signing him.   Basically, what  we saw last season was not a bit disappointing or a settling in season. What we saw is what he is. Everyone keeps hoping and expectiing him to actually start doing something  and become a good player, but it ends up being the same old every year.  

Edited July 1, 20197 yr by Dixons

No. Don’t want. 

However, maybe under a better Manager with better tactics he might shine. I should give the benefit of the doubt.