Chelsea brought in Mateo Kovacic on loan from Real Madrid in the summer of 2018 and last year, the Blues exercised their option to buy and made the Croatian a permanent member of their squad.
Last season, Mateo Kovacic mostly played in tandem with fellow midfielder Ross Barkley with one replacing the other during matches.
But this season the 25-year-old has been able to cement a regular place in the starting XI under new manager Frank Lampard having already made 22 appearances in the Premier League.
And now the midfielder has revealed the basic difference between Maurizio Sarri and his current boss and also why Lampard is similar to Zidane as a coach.
Kovacic told FourFourTwo as quoted by Metro: ‘I came to Chelsea under Sarri, but I must say that Lampard is an exceptional manager.
‘He has kept the character he had as a player in his personality as a coach, which has inspired all of us.
‘He commits himself with everything he’s got. Training is always challenging and different from last season.
‘That’s probably the main difference between Lampard and Sarri, who made the concept of training quite monotonous. There were a lot of similar training sessions with a focus on tactical preparation.
‘Zidane was similar to the way Frank Lampard is as a coach, and their approaches really suit me.’
Mateo Kovacic has been a mainstay in the Chelsea midfield alongside Jorginho this season and by the looks of it, the Croatian will remain in the long-term plans of the manager.
