How Chelsea gave Mateo Kovacic his groove back

Mateo Kovacic was in the wilderness at Real Madrid just two seasons ago. How did Chelsea allow him to reinvent himself and get his groove back?

When Mateo Kovacic was at Inter Milan, he was the type of young phenomenon that many believed would go on to define the game for years to come. Many saw him as a more industrial version of his compatriot, Luka Modric. Every club in the world would have wanted a chance to build around him. Real Madrid won that race.

But Real Madrid, like their rivals Barcelona, is a dog eat dog club. The best players in the world go there, find themselves surrounded by others of their caliber (often for the first time) that the manager already has a preference for. Kovacic was not bad at Real Madrid, but he got swallowed up by that rising tide.

Faded from the spotlight, Kovacic was more than a bit lost in the football consciousnesses. When Chelsea opted to sign him on loan, not many expected a great deal from him. But over nearly two seasons, the Blues have given Kovacic his groove back and have returned him to near world class, if not flat out world class status.

First of all, when a player of Kovacic’s age goes on loan, it is generally an admission of defeat. He was the cheap option in a sea of huge transfer fees. Chelsea brought him in because they needed a midfielder of the Marek Hamsik mold for Maurizio Sarri.

Sarri was unable to make Kovacic into that player. Hamsik would often push up, almost into a 10 role, and knit attacks together high or rush into the box for a goal. Kovacic is simply not that attacking style of a player. Sarri allowed Eden Hazard to have more freedom than he would have liked, which took the slack off of Kovacic. But eventually, Sarri would begin to prefer Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the role over the Croatian. Kovacic’s first season showed promise, but nothing like his early career showed.

Then, two important things happened. The first is the transfer ban. Without it, Chelsea may not have opted to sign Kovacic outright. The second was the arrival of Frank Lampard and his youth revolution.

Lampard understood Kovacic’s role in the midfield was not that of an attacker, but of a linker. Kovacic excels at gluing a defense and an attack together, not at being a major part of either section. In all of Lampard’s formations, Kovacic has been allowed to stay deeper and string things together for his teammates.

A major factor that has allowed this has been Lampard’s use of Mason Mount as the attacking midfield player. This has allowed Kovacic to be where he performs at his best without losing out in midfield in other ways.

In his best suited role, Kovacic has gone from strength to strength this season. “World class” may be just slightly premature but he is extremely close if he is not there already. Fans and pundits have taken notice and the notion that signing him was not worth it has faded away into obscurity.

Chelsea gave Kovacic his groove back. If he continues on this course, Chelsea can be the club to build around him like so many wanted to do years ago.