His reaction yesterday suggested it was serious. And just when he was playing good football too. He must be gutted. We have players in midfield. We'll be ok. But we'll miss his quality. I just hope Zizou gives mins to Llorente and Ceballos and not run Kroos, Casemiro and Luka into the ground.
I think Mateo's playing style, with all that exertion when he changes direction so rapidly, and the way he gets stuck in, makes him a constant injury risk. I will miss watching him these months, hes a joy to watch and one of my favorite players ever. He brings so much dominance to our midfield. Time for Dani Ceballos to show that he belongs at this club.
Thank go do we have extra depth in his position. Makes sense adding players of Ceballos's quality. Now if we did the same up front I doubt we would have dropped easy points.
Hopefully Zidane use both depending on the situation although I do think Ceballos is good enough to slot in anywhere in midfield. I really want to see Llorente get some minutes too.
We have terrible luck with injuries. I think Dani is ready to step up though. He can do Kova things like taking on players while also having the ability to dictate play. Good opportunity for him to gain experience at RM.
For him to play in that 3rd midfield spot he needs to up his workrate though. At Betis he played as a 10 or AMF. Not sure I see Zizou playing him there. Think he subs Bale/Isco more often. Llorente to come on for a midfielder unless the match is comfortable.
Kovacic is back with the squad! It's been a while. He has been very unlucky getting injured right when he was getting into really great form. Hopefully he adds that spark we have been missing in the midfield for a while.
Seems as if multiple teams made offers for mateo including Tottenham and Inter. According to Sanchez there is no chance Real Madrid sell Mateo. Surprised kovacic did not want to leave as he could start for practically any team in the world.
Neither did Isco . Modric is 32 while Mateo is 23. Why wouldn't he stay and learn from his compatriot and idol Luka for 1 or 2 more years while slowly overtaking his position in the team? Looking forward to seeing our team in 2 years with Isco,Kovacic & Casemiro in their prime. Isco(27) Kroos(29)-Casemiro(27)-Kovacic(25)I'm just hoping that we'll have some amazing forwards to utilize that insane middlefield. Ronaldo would be over 34, Benzema 31 but please no and same with Gareth. Gareth's body is already giving away, I don't even want to imagine him playing 2020+ for us.
Kovacic: "I'm very happy to be back with the team, slowly picking up the pace. We have played very good games this year, but in Bilbao we scored no goals. I see Cristiano every day. He is the best in the world. Now the ball does not want to enter but he will score many goals." I want a greater role like my first year at Real Madrid. We aren't a weaker squad. We have the best team in the world. For me after the incredible year he's had, Cristiano deserves the Ballon d'Or. I'm happy for him but the most important thing is the team. Icardi is good player who scores many goals. He's having a great season. His addition could help the team but we have the best CF in the world in Benzema. Our midfield with Modric, Kroos & Casemiro is the world's best. I'm young & can learn a lot from them." I've learnt a lot from Cristiano. I see him fighting everyday in training to be the best, working tirelessly in the gym & gets angry when he doesn't score because of his high standards. That is why he's the best in the world for me. Mateo is answering Spanish questions in Spanish & German questions in German as fast he slaloms on the pitch. - MAJ
Poor Bale. Kovacic called our starting middlefield the best in the world. Same with Benzema and Ronaldo. Kovacic played together with Icardi, maybe that could help with the transfer.
I think it's time to give Kovacic a run at the CDM spot. While Casemiro is not a problem, it's time to get creative. If our strikers need 6 or 7 chances to score (that is a problem) and you're only generating 1 or 2 quality chances a game (also a problem), maybe we should start looking at creating more chances since what you see is what you get up front until the winter market opens up at least.
Kovacic completed the most dribbles in Europe’a top 5 leagues (+25 attemlted dribbles) with the most successful rate (96.1%) [@optajose]
This his best quality and arguably the best one to do it in our midfield. He has a way of holding onto the ball and pushing it forward through the midfield press. Sometimes its with strength, sometimes its with pace. Hes also excellent at keeping the ball extremely close to his foot as he runs.
Well personally I prefer not to have an excessive dribbler as our DM, I love Kova, I love the skills he possesses as a player on both sides of the ball, but as a DM I have also seen him give the ball away too cheaply right in front of our area far too often attempting difficult moves rather than keeping it simple, just can’t do that there, no one is perfect I know but I just don’t think Kova has enough discipline to play that position, I honestly still don’t know what his best position on the pitch is at this point.
Well, it came directly from the source. Kovacic is asking to leave. He said he wants to leave to play more elsewhere in an interview with Marca. We tried to force him to stay, but it seems he's not content with that and is willing to force a move. Gotta let him go now. http://www.marca.com/futbol/real-madrid/2018/06/23/5b2d7332e2704e94bb8b45db.html https://metro.co.uk/2018/06/23/tott...acic-reveals-wants-leave-real-madrid-7653292/ Pretty much made sure he's being sold now. Pretty much nobody wants to sit around behind Kroos, Modric and Casemiro. Guess Isco and Ceballos moved up the pecking order now. Real shame, because Kovacic is brilliant and totally worthy of being a starter. If he has a release clause he's as good as gone. To be specific, he didn't ask to be sold. But I don't see anyone picking up a player like Kovacic only for loan. They'll want to buy him.
Last season Kova was first from the bench for Casemiro, Modric and Kroos and it got him 1800 minutes all together. If that's not enough for him then we have to let him go and that will be a big problem for us. We'll need 2 players to cover for our 3 starting midfielders from the start. Kova is not the best CDM, but he can do it to an extent. Others players just can't do both positions...
We need to attempt to keep him, he's worth it. He said that his status in Madrid has made him be a sub for Croatia also and that's probably where all of this is coming from and i understand it. I can't remember if we renewed his contract and increased his release clause because i remember it being something as low as 50M which is pretty weird.
He knows he can get his pick of teams with a 50m release clause, for him personally, now’s the best time to go. I think he’s gone this summer, and with that, more of our squad depth. We really had it lucky two seasons ago with Morata, Kova and James on the bench! I guess more minutes will be given to Ceballos and Llorente? Even though they are nowhere near as competent as Kova is...
Well i guess I can't be accused of making stuff up anymore as it came from the horses mouth. Kovacic was actually keen on leaving last season but Zidane convinced him to stay. Kid wants to show he can be one of the best midfielders in the world but at Real Madrid it won't happen this season as unless Modric or Kroos drop in form a lot there starters for sure