“A six with strong play and defense that supports Joshua Kimmich”, are looking for FC Bayern for the coming season, reported the Munich evening newspaper last week. Sport Bild followed up in today’s edition: Thomas Tuchel wanted an alternative for the midfield headquarters. The sports newspaper names Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea as a candidate.
The 28-year-old is in the prime of footballing age, speaks fluent German as a native of Austria and is now an institution in European football in his position. In addition, he is one of those players in the Blues who may have to be removed from the payroll in the summer so as not to get in the way of financial fair play. So the way would be prepared to guide Kovacic from Stamford Bridge to Säbener Straße at a reasonable price.
Kovacic’s parallels with Goretzka
However, the 93-time Croatia international would really meet the above criteria. The supple right foot is by no means a six, even if he can show teeth in duels. Kovacic cannot be considered an upgrade to Joshua Kimmich (28) or Leon Goretzka (28) at this point. Rather the wild running Konrad Laimer (25), whose creative vein is not particularly pronounced.
Compared to Laimer and Goretzka, Kovacic plays the technically finer ball. His right foot is very strong, and the former Real and Inter star also has good dynamics. Kovacic could be described as a ball fetcher and dragger, the parallels to Goretzka are very clear here.
One thing is clear: Tuchel learned to appreciate Kovacic’s style of play at Chelsea. Bayern’s interest is certainly not surprising. However, there is also a certain Ryan Gravenberch (20) in the Munich squad, whose qualities are comparable, but who is at a much earlier stage in his career and has recently often publicly aired his dissatisfaction.
