Chelsea: Mateo Kovacic can be the “glue” in midfield, but not at Real’s price

With so much uncertainty surrounding Chelsea at the moment, one issue keeps being pushed aside. Mateo Kovacic is in limbo, a gray area between staying at Chelsea and going back to Real Madrid.

Maurizio Sarri was a fan of Mateo Kovacic, using him more than anyone else in the never-really-defined attacking midfielder role. Sarri wanted Chelsea to keep Kovacic around for another season. But since Sarri himself is hopping a train for Turin, Chelsea don’t know if the next skipper – whoever that might be – will have Kovacic in his plans.

Let’s just assume Frank Lampard is coming in to take over. It’s easier this way, and I don’t feel like saying “prospective manager” a hundred times when we all know “incoming manager Frank Lampard” sounds so much better.

Setting aside Kovacic, Lampard will have N’golo Kante, Ruben Loftus-Cheek (injured), Jorginho, and Ross Barkley. They had the majority of the midfield minutes last season. With Lampard in charge, Mason Mount could safely be added to the assumptions and hypotheticals around that core.

With those five players solidly under contract at Chelsea, would Lampard want the Croatian to stick around?

Simply, yes, even if not to the same level of importance as Maurizio Sarri wanted him With Chelsea’s not-actually-an-appeal appeal for the transfer ban, they will go the entire season without any transfers. They will take their lack of transfers into the Champions League, where they will need every drop of experience and every option for depth. Whether they are thinking of tactical variations or warm bodies to plug the holes, they should not let go of a player who has as much experience in the Champions League and Chelsea FC as Kovacic.

The Blues (that is to say, incoming manager Frank Lampard) will need the bodies in midfield even if Loftus-Cheek does stay healthy after he comes back.

Kovacic may not be the world class player some hoped he would be, but he is something important just the same: glue. He is the player who does the little things that others don’t, won’t or can’t do. Every team needs players like him, and Chelsea needs lots a glue to tide them over to the next available transfer window.

Unless, of course, some youth rise up to shock the club and they won’t need that next window.

Real Madrid are asking for a reported £45 million for Kovacic’s services to continue at Stamford Bridge. But that price is just too steep for glue. Maybe Real Madrid think, “Chelsea need him more than we do, and with no transfers we can hold their feet to the fire”. But the Blues would be better off having incoming manager Frank Lampard give that spot to a player trying to earn his keep. The production would probably end up being similar to Kovacic’s, depending on the player, and filling all those little roles that Kovacic currently covers would be a useful tool for the youth’s development.

The Croatian sensation just didn’t live up to the hype for either club. Maybe that was a product of sitting next to Luka Modric and others in that Real Madrid midfield, and maybe of not being used in the best way at Stamford Bridge.

He could play an important role at Chelsea, particularly under the transfer ban, but not at the expense of one-third Eden Hazard’s transfer fee.