Three big questions: Chelsea’s Mateo Kovacic and tying it all together

2. How does he fit in next season with his awkward overall skillset?

Given Kovacic is a jack of all trades, but a master of none (besides dribbling), he becomes somewhat of an awkward fit. He rarely creates or scores goals. His defensive contributions are somewhat underrated, but no one would jump to have him shielding the defense most days.

In the current midfield, he has that clear spot between the more defensively minded midfielder (N’Golo Kante) and the more offensively minded one (Mason Mount or Ross Barkley). Lampard has also made it work with Jorginho, though he and Kovacic possess many of the of the same skills (though Kovacic does it all better and adds dribbling). If that was what Kovacic had to deal with next season, there would be no issue. Rumors say otherwise though.

The Kai Havertz rumors are as close as they can get to turning into an actual signing. If he joins, he is surely straight into the starting XI. Given Lampard’s usage of dual eights after the break, it is likely that he was preparing for something similar with Havertz. Mount, given his importance to Lampard’s tactics over his two years as a manager, is sure to feature more often than not. Kante (or a new defensive midfielder) will be needed behind a midfield consisting of those two. That leaves Kovacic in the cold.

Of course, he and Mount could rotate frequently. With Kovacic, the shape would take on more of a 4-2-3-1 flavor. Alternatively, on days where the Blues expect a ton of possession, Kovacic could start as the deepest midfielder like Jorginho (but again, with dribbling). There will be solutions to use Kovacic, there simply will not be an obvious answer to have him starting.

He is an awkward fit into the XI to be sure, but one that is going to tactically be worth it some days.