Chelsea’s near-perfect passer plans to stay at Stamford Bridge

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Mateo Kovacic has admitted he ‘can imagine’ staying at Chelsea beyond his season-long loan, but says his future will be decided by Real Madrid.

The Croatia international joined Real Madrid from Inter in 2015 but despite winning a La Liga title and three Champions Leagues with Los Blancos, Kovacic could never quite hold down a starting place at the Bernabeu.

Could Kovacic remain at Chelsea? Five key things to know…

  1. Kovacic joined Real Madrid from Inter Milan in 2015.
  2. Despite winning a host of major honours, the Croatian struggled to nail down a starting place at the Bernabeu.
  3. After reaching the World Cup final in the summer, Kovacic moved to Chelsea on loan at the start of the season.
  4. The 24-year-old has started 12 Premier League games this season and has a 92.62% pass accuracy.
  5. Kovacic says he can ‘imagine’ remaining at Chelsea beyond this loan spell, but respects his Real Madrid contract.

That led to the 24-year-old moving to Stamford Bridge on loan at the start of this season and his impressive performances have led to Kovacic having the highest pass accuracy (92.62%) of any Chelsea player to play more than one Premier League game so far.

A permanent switch to Chelsea is now being rumoured, and Kovacic told Sky Sports (via Goal): “I think it [a loan switch] was the most important thing I did for now in my career.

“It was a step I wanted a lot, I wanted to come here. I say thank you to my previous club, to Chelsea as well, who wanted me a lot. I am enjoying it and I like it a lot here.

“For now, I am happy here. The city is amazing, the club is one of the best in the world, and my team-mates are great.”

Kovacic did, however, maintain that he will respect his Real Madrid contract, insisting his parent club will be the ones to decide his future.

“I need to respect my previous club, Real Madrid,” he added. “I can imagine myself staying here, but I have a contract I need to respect, and that is what I will do.

“For now, my business is to give my best every day.”

Kovacic places Hazard in world’s top three players

Kovacic is happy at Chelsea, but one man who has been linked with a departure from Stamford Bridge is Eden Hazard.

However, Kovacic has said the Belgian is ‘fully concentrated on Chelsea’ and admitted he didn’t realise just how good Hazard was until he played with him.

He said: “For me, he is an incredible player.

“I did not know he was that good and he can easily be one of the two or three best players in the world.

“He asked me how it was there [at Real] but we are looking forward to having a great season together, to be fully concentrated on Chelsea.

“He is focused a lot on doing great things with Chelsea.”

Chelsea face a Boxing Day trip to Watford in their next game.

The post Mateo Kovacic eyeing permanent move to Chelsea appeared first on Squawka News.



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