Mateo Kovacic

WeePat

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Crazy talk. For me Gundogan has been City's most influential player of the last 4-5 years. Played CM, AM, false 9 and done inconceivably well at everything.
It is crazy talk indeed.
 
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I wouldn't say he's the ideal Gundogan replacement. Kovacic is an elite dribbler and is incredibly press resistant but little to no goal threat and not as good a passer as Gundogan. I'm pretty sure he would be a good player for City but he's not really a patch on the qualities Gundogan brought to the table.
He can score. Trust me. He is also an elite passer. He proved that as a youngster in Zagreb and at Inter which handed him his Real move to understudy Modric. I fully expect Guardiola to bring put his potential to score goals. City's style will also finally unleash his true passing capability consistently
 

Dominos

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I've always rated Kovacic, but I'm not too fussed about missing out here. The age profile of our midfield is already questionable, making younger midfielder signings makes sense at this point. It would be different if he was on a free but I know we'd get rinsed for a player one year left on his contract as we always do.
 

mu4c_20le

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Crazy talk. For me Gundogan has been City's most influential player of the last 4-5 years. Played CM, AM, false 9 and done inconceivably well at everything.
Part of being a successful manager is identifying when a player might start to decline, instead of keeping them because of their past achievements.
 

Cassidy

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Mason Mount is not a real #8 like say Kovacic is.

He is more of a #8/#10 hybrid, like a Van de Beek/De Bruyne type.

He is a final third player, and we need a progressive player that will help in our build up play. Completely wrong profile imo. Wish we went for Kovacic.
I think we’ll rely on the CBs and new keeper to progress the play and 2 attacking 8s ahead of a 6 to cause mahem. Basically we’ll play with 2 Brunos (hence the move for Mount)

Similarly to what Brighton do where ball progression comes mainly from the CBs
 

Karel Podolsky

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He can score. Trust me. He is also an elite passer. He proved that as a youngster in Zagreb and at Inter which handed him his Real move to understudy Modric. I fully expect Guardiola to bring put his potential to score goals. City's style will also finally unleash his true passing capability consistently
Kovacic now is like Gundo was before 2020.
 

pascell

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Lovely price in comparison to Mount
£35m for a player who's entering the last year of his deal and coming off the back of a season plagued with injuries is not that good.

Don't know why you have to use one transfer to shit on another? Mount is 5 years younger and Chelsea wanted him to stay, they'll obviously want more.
 

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£35m for a player who's entering the last year of his deal and coming off the back of a season plagued with injuries is not that good.

Don't know why you have to use one transfer to shit on another? Mount is 5 years younger and Chelsea wanted him to stay, they'll obviously want more.
Plagued with injuries?
 

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Thought a realistic fee given the circumstances was impossible?
 

Jim Beam

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That is a great fee and a player we needed. Am not the one that moans usually, but going after Mount who is more of an AM while not trying to get Kovacic who is very close to De Jong in style is a bit baffling. The only thing against it is his age, but even that for such fee is not a concern.
 

duffer

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Kova is 29 and has far less sell on value than Mount. Of course he's going to cost less.

Even if Mount stinks up Old Trafford for two years, you'll be able to move him on for good money.
 

Jim Beam

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Kovacic is our best midfielder (national team) for about 3 years now.. yeah, he's been better than Modric.
 

DWelbz19

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That is a great fee and a player we needed. Am not the one that moans usually, but going after Mount who is more of an AM while not trying to get Kovacic who is very close to De Jong in style is a bit baffling. The only thing against it is his age, but even that for such fee is not a concern.
Yeah, it’s a weird one. I think ten Hag has completely changed the midfield dynamics he wants. We’ll wait and see how it plays out in real time but it looks like we’ll continue to feed into our main strength of being a transition based countering team.
 

Jim Beam

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I think ten Hag has completely changed the midfield dynamics he wants.
Completely agree, was thinking the same. Maybe he thinks with Bruno and Rashford he needs to play more directly and to their strengths.

I rate Mount btw, in that CL run he was with Kante Chelsea's best player. It is just a strange in the context what we've been looking so far (or last summer).
 

ShoePolish

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Underrated around here, he'll be great for them.

Not usually the age profile they sign though, they must've thought they're getting Bellingham or counted on Gundogan to renew
 

criticalanalysis

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Kova is 29 and has far less sell on value than Mount. Of course he's going to cost less.

Even if Mount stinks up Old Trafford for two years, you'll be able to move him on for good money.
People always say that but I don't think it's really true. It only happens with really elite level, consistently productive players.

Mount is not elite and on the wages we'll be paying him, if we say buy him for £50m and flops/does okay (i.e could easily be replaced), we'd do REALLY well to get anything more than £35m; in 2026, he would only have had 24 months of really good performances to his name from 2020-22 with 2-4 years of from of injuries and bad form. Not only that, unlike Chelsea, who seem to have some insane record for selling players at the right price, Utd are nowhere near capable.
 

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Excited to see him in the City line up. He will get goals, won't be clutch Gundo but imo will offer more as a midfielder than Gundo without the goals.

Come on Citeh, Come on Citeh
 

WeePat

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Excited to see him in the City line up. He will get goals, won't be clutch Gundo but imo will offer more as a midfielder than Gundo without the goals.

Come on Citeh, Come on Citeh
He’s got about 26 career goals in 500 career games. He’s scored more than 2 league goals in a season just twice in his entire career. Goals is not something anyone should expect from Kovacic. He does offer a lot of other great things though.
 

Greyfog

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He’s got about 26 career goals in 500 career games. He’s scored more than 2 league goals in a season just twice in his entire career. Goals is not something anyone should expect from Kovacic. He does offer a lot of other great things though.
I reckon he will get more than 2 league goals for Pep. Of course I don't expect double figures or anything like like that. Maybe 4 to 6
 

Dan_F

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Considering he turned down 100 million a year in Saudi, maybe, just maybe…he only wanted to go Man City.

This isn’t Football Manager where you just bid for a player and open negotiations. I would imagine his agent has told other clubs months ago he only wants city.
 

dinostar77

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That is a great fee and a player we needed. Am not the one that moans usually, but going after Mount who is more of an AM while not trying to get Kovacic who is very close to De Jong in style is a bit baffling. The only thing against it is his age, but even that for such fee is not a concern.
I agree, you would have thought kovacic would be a closer match to frenkie, therefore more of a priority for Utd than Mount.
 

DJ_21

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Is kovacic contract running out aswell? Just wondering how they’re getting a decent price for him and we’re getting mugged of for a player that has 1 year left?
 

TheLord

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Chelsea are selling Kovavcic, 29, at around the same price they spent buying him from Madrid after getting the best out of him for nearly 4 years.

That club is ridiculously good at shuffling players. No top club comes close.
 

duffer

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Chelsea are selling Kovavcic, 29, at around the same price they spent buying him from Madrid after getting the best out of him for nearly 4 years.

That club is ridiculously good at shuffling players. No top club comes close.
For every Kova there is a Lukaku or Torres. We're not better at it than anyone else.