Mateo Kovacic is worth the price for Chelsea despite the shallow stats

Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have been scoring/assisting, so the media wants to say they are better than Mateo Kovacic for Chelsea. They are not.

The English media is biased towards English players. That should not come as a shock to anyone. So when some look at the trio of Mateo Kovacic, Ross Barkley, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, they look straight at the “sexy stats” of goals and assists. And one player falls behind the others.

And by only looking at those sexy stats, they make grand proclamations that Kovacic is not worth the price tag. After all, Barkley and Loftus-Cheek have goals and assists on their stats sheet and Kovacic’s is bare.

But those sexy stats are shallow stats, especially for midfielders. By only looking at goals and assists, they are missing all the other important stats for a midfielder like Kovacic. And by looking at all the stats and outside factors, it becomes clear that Kovacic is both a better player than Barkley and Loftus-Cheek and he is well worth the potential 50 million plus price tag.

Kovacic is much better for the team as a whole than Barkley and Loftus-Cheek. Particularly because of his defensive contributions. Kovacic adds a much better shield to the defense than the Englishmen (something Maurizio Sarri himself readily admits after nearly every match the Englishmen play). Because Kovacic protects the defense better, they make less mistakes and the team is able to win the ball back faster in more dangerous areas.

Then the Eden Hazard factor can be added in. Kovacic’s better defense allows Hazard the free role he currently has. The Belgian can go where he pleases because he knows Kovacic will cover for him if something goes wrong. The Croatian is a large part of why Hazard has been able to play the way he has this season.

Some will still point to the goals and assists because those are the hard stats that matter. After all, the point of the game is to outscore the opponent. But in almost every other category, Kovacic leads. And because he allows Hazard freedom and shields the defense, he is better for the team as a whole. It is a team game at the end of the day and it does not matter if a player takes home the golden boot and still loses in the end. Personal awards are always secondary to team trophies.

Furthermore, Kovacic is often named the successor to Luka Modric. Who else does not score or assist a ton? Modric. He is heralded as the “modern midfielder” but he is known for scoring and he is not the assist machine that many make him out to be. But he helps the team in almost every other aspect just like Kovacic does. Now imagine Chelsea looking at a 24 year old Modric and passing on him for 50 million pounds because he was not a goal scorer or massive assist magician. The Blues would have missed out on one of (if not the best) midfielders of the generation.

Goals and assists matter but to tunnel vision towards them at the expense of other stats to claim Kovacic is not worth the price tag is madness. Sarri should always pick the player that helps the team the most as a whole and not the player with the best stats on paper. Kovacic is that player and that is why he is better than the Englishmen and why he is worth his price tag.