Chelsea have confirmed the signing of Mateo Kovacic from Real Madrid earlier this week for a fee of 45 million euros.
Mateo Kovacic arrived at Chelsea last summer on a loan spell which had an option to buy and under Maurizio Sarri, the 25-year-old featured in 32 Premier League games.
Chelsea released an official statement which read: “Chelsea Football Club is delighted to announce we have completed the permanent signing of Mateo Kovacic from Real Madrid.”
Kovacic said: ‘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.’
Last season, Mateo Kovacic was mostly used in tandem with Ross Barkley and during the course of the season, many believed that the Real Madrid man would be heading back to Spain.
But instead the club chose to make the deal permanent primarily due to the transfer embargo and now speaking about his newfound life at Stamford Bridge, the midfielder has revealed how Frank Lampard can truly unlock his potential.
Speaking to Chelsea’s website, Kovacic said(as reported by the Metro): ‘I’m looking forward to working with him a lot. He was an amazing player and he showed last season that he is a good coach as well.
‘I’m looking forward to learning how to score from him because he scored quite a lot and me not so much last season!
‘I’m maybe not exactly the same type of midfielder as he was but he had some strong abilities, especially scoring goals.
‘He was a hard worker so I’m looking forward to being better in this aspect, in working hard, fighting on the pitch and scoring goals.’
Mateo Kovacic has never been known as a goalscoring midfielder and last season he failed to net a single goal in the whole of the Premier League.
And for Real Madrid, the midfielder played in 73 La Liga games and he could only manage to score a single goal.
