Chelsea on the brink of completing deal to sign Real Madrid star

Real Madrid midfielder Mateo Kovacic will undergo a medical at Chelsea before arriving at Stamford Bridge on a season-long loan deal, say Sky Sports.

A report in Marca on Tuesday said the Croatian international will move to West London following the player telling the European champions he would not return to training in order to force an exit.

A report in Marca last week said the 24-year-old spoke to Julen Lopetegui following his return from the World Cup and insisted he wished to depart the Bernabeu for more first-team opportunities.

The Madrid Coach admitted on Tuesday that an exit for Kovacic was ‘possible’ and that his team ‘would work’ to ensure they had the ‘right blend’ of players.

A report in Sky Sports earlier this month that Manchester City wanted the midfielder but Madrid responded by stating he was priced at €80m, which killed the potential of any move.

The Croat has started only 37 La Liga games across three seasons and started only 10 in his most recent campaign.

Kovacic joined the European champions from Inter in 2015 in a €35m deal, having originally cost the Milanese giants €11m from Dinamo Zagreb.

Kovačić has been described as a great technician with excellent dribbling abilities.He is considered to be a versatile midfielder, having played in different midfield positions. He started off as an attacking midfielder at Dinamo Zagreb, but he transformed his game at Inter where he was deployed out wide and also as a central midfielder, functioning as a deep-lying playmaker, while being coached by Andrea Stramaccioni.

One of his trademarks is dropping deep to receive the ball and then driving forward, often performing his slalom runs. Under the coach, Walter Mazzarri, he was often used in a more advanced position. Former manager Giovanni Trapattoni once claimed that Kovačić knows how to really reach the ball from deep and drive up the pitch like a ‘raging bull’. Proven by his pass completion percentages, Kovačić is known for distributing the ball up the pitch.

The Croatia under-17 manager, Martin Novoselac, reportedly said of Kovačić, “I haven’t seen a youngster with so much talent since the days of Robert Prosinečki,” referring to his fast development and talent. Kovačić revealed that precisely Prosinečki is the player he admired the most while growing up.

His compatriot, Zvonimir Boban, who played for Milan for over a decade, in an interview with Sky Italia (in 2013) said, “He has talents that could make him even better than me, he is an incredibly serious professional for someone his age. Kovačić is a complete player. He is not a born regista but he is playing there now. He is a complete talent that can still grow — he has incredible potential.” Trapattoni described him as “a mixture of Kaká and Clarence Seedorf”, because of his style of play and technical characteristics.Long-time Inter captain Javier Zanetti stated that, with the exception of Ronaldo, who had arrived to Inter when he was 21, Kovačić was the most promising youngster he had seen in his 19 years at the club