Mateo Kovacic – Fantasy Football Potential

Chelsea have recently announced the signing of Mateo Kovacic from Real Madrid for a fee believed to be around £40 million. Having spent last season on loan at the London club, Chelsea opted to exercise their option to buy clause. He will be Chelsea’s only signing of the summer as they are currently serving a transfer embargo.

Here’s what Kovacic has had to say about his permanent move to Chelsea this summer:

“I really enjoyed my season on loan with Chelsea, I feel comfortable at the club and like London and the Premier League very much. I am very happy to be able to join permanently. We had a successful year, winning the Europa League and I hope I can make a big contribution in the coming seasons.”

Player History

Kovacic started his career at Dinamo Zagreb, where he broke into the first team aged 16. Having won the league with Zagreb twice in a row and playing 43 appearances for the club, the Croatian international was signed by Inter Milan in 2013. Across the course of 2 seasons, Kovacic made 80 appearances for Inter, scoring just 1 goal.

In the summer of 2015, Kovacic signed for Real Madrid. During his time in Madrid he was part of the squad that won the Champions League three times in a row. Real Madrid then sent Kovacic on loan to Chelsea at the beginning of last season, where he is a now a permanent signing – penning a reported 5 year deal.

Internationally Kovacic played for Croation youth levels between under 14’s through to the under-21’s, before making his senior debut in 2013. Notably, Kovacic also played a role in the Croatian national team which beat England en route to coming runners in World Cup 2018.

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Fantasy Football Potential

Mateo Kovacic has the ability to play in any role as a central midfielder – from holding midfield to attacking midfield and anywhere in between. Despite being able to play in more advanced roles Kovacic didn’t score a single goal last season and only picked up 64 fantasy football points.

At present, it is unclear how Chelsea are likely to line-up under new manager Frank Lampard – although it is believed that he will give young players a chance in the first team and fellow central midfielder Mason Mount is one that has history with the new manager. It is unlikely that Lampard would have spent £40 million on a player who is unlikely to be in and around the first 11 regularly. That said, at the time of writing, Chelsea have an abundance of central midfielders in the squad currently to rival Kovacic’s place in the team – Kante, Jorginho, Bakayoko, Loftus-Cheek, Barkley, Mount etc.

At £5.5m, Kovacic represents a fairly cheap way to get a Chelsea midfielder into your fantasy football team this season. Unfortunately, his output in terms of gaining points on fantasy football combined with the level of competition for his place in the team makes him a risky purchase. It is worth monitoring his performances in pre-season as he may play a more advanced role under the new manager, which could increase his value to fantasy league managers!

Written by Will Gosling (@_WG5)

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