Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has confirmed he wants the club to make Mateo Kovacic’s loan spell permanent at the end of the season.
The Premier League outfit signed Kovacic from Real Madrid on a season-long loan deal last summer, as the Croatia international sought regular playing time.
Kovacic has immediately established himself as a first-team regular for Chelsea, though his performances have not been overly convincing.
The 2018 World Cup finalist is the only player Sarri trusts to step into Jorginho’s role when required and the Chelsea boss wants Kovacic to stay.
“No, I want to try with Kovacic [in Jorginho’s position],” the London Evening Standard quote Sarri as saying. “He is only on loan, of course, but I’d like very much that Kovacic will stay with us.
“You know very well that, in that position, we have some problems because we have only Jorginho. In my opinion, Kovacic could become a very good central midfielder.
“Of course, he is not a defensive midfielder [at the moment] but, as you know, in that position I prefer a very technical player.
“In the last match, Jorginho touched 161 balls. So, for us, it’s very important for us to have big quality in that position. Big quality not for the last pass, but big quality in terms of moving the ball.”
Kovacic has started 19 league matches this season and made a further nine appearances from the bench.
His WhoScored rating is a measly 6.61 in that time, which represents the lowest return of any Chelsea outfielder to make at least 10 starts this season.
Kovacic’s dribble success rate of 74.5% in the league also represents a decrease from 89.7% last season for Real Madrid.
However, only Manchester City defender John Stones (94.2%) has a better pass success rate than Kovacic (92.3%) in the Premier League this term.
