Chelsea has loaned in Mateo Kovacic for the next season. There are mixed messages on a buy option and Chelsea will wait to see if the move was good.
Maurizio Sarri wanted a new midfielder with different characteristics and by all accounts he got just that in Kovacic. The Croatian has struggled to break into Real Madrid’s midfield but not for a lack of talent. Once he is fit and acclimated, he walks right into Chelsea’s starting XI.
But there are mixed reports on the nature of his deal. Luckily, the answer can only be binary: he is either on loan with an option to buy or he is on loan without an option to buy. That keeps the end result of his loan simple but does open up plenty of other variables.
The truth is that Chelsea will not know whether this loan was a good idea or not for at least a year. When the loan ends, and the fallout from it settles, then the Blues can look back and say if they made the right move.
There are two ways in which the move can be viewed as good. The first way is the simple one where Chelsea has a buy clause and Kovacic joins the Blues very cheaply. That is the ideal way this deal should be happening. In the meantime, Kovacic has an amazing season, falls in love with London and the Blues, and the buy option is an easy move to make.
The other way this deal can be good involves Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The Englishman goes on loan to a Premier League club. He plays a ton and does fantastically. In a year, Kovacic returns to Real Madrid and Loftus-Cheek is brought into Chelsea’s starting XI after a great year on loan to develop. The Blues get a good player for a year to fill the gap before Loftus-Cheek was ready.
But there are a lot of ways this deal can be looked back on as bad. First of all, Chelsea basically rewarded Thibaut Courtois for going missing and greased the wheels by taking a player who had no clear starting role off Real Madrid’s hands. Kovacic spends a year at the Blues till his Real Madrid path is clear and Real Madrid get Courtois for cheap. In other words, Real Madrid basically robbed Chelsea.
Or Ruben Loftus-Cheek opts to stay and plays very little. At his age, he cannot afford that. So if both Ross Barkley and Kovacic are blocking his path, Loftus-Cheek stagnates and is not ready when Kovacic leaves at the end of the season.
There is also the option where Kovacic returns to Real Madrid after his loan but wants to go back to Chelsea. The Blues are also keen in this scenario but they will have to pay an arm and a leg to get Kovacic back. So what does Real Madrid suggest? Eden Hazard going the other way. That would be the double robbing of Chelsea.
All in all, the deal is good for the short term. Kovacic is a great player that improves Chelsea right now. But there is too much else around this deal to call it good or bad without knowing if there is an option to buy. The only way fans and the club will know is in a year when they see the fallout from the move.