Chelsea in talks with Real Madrid over Mateo Kovacic

I am so sorry, fam.

Yesterday I got everyone’s hopes up by reporting on a MARCA story that suggested that Mateo Kovacic was going on strike at Real Madrid in order to force a move to another club where he can get more minutes. Tottenham Hotspur wasn’t one of the clubs linked to Kovacic, but that hardly matters in the waning days of a transfer window, does it? He’s on strike, he seems to want a move to England, and Tottenham have this gaping hole in its central midfield.

Well, reports are out in MARCA again this morning, but also in the Times of London that states Kovacic is indeed negotiating with a Premier League club, and that club happens to be Chelsea.

WELP.

The deal is reportedly for a one-season loan, which kind of makes sense. Madrid doesn’t really want to sell Kovacic since they’re also possibly working on a deal that would take Luka Modric to Inter Milan. It wouldn’t make any sense at all to sell both of them in one summer, but if the Luka thing doesn’t go through then shipping Kovacic off to a place that will keep him happy and at a club that will play him a lot sure does make sense. Daniel Levy notoriously hates incoming loans, so that seems to be somewhat of a non-starter, especially if there would (presumably) be no purchase clause at the end.

MARCA says that the loan is pretty much agreed and that it will be announced in the coming hours. The Times is saying that Chelsea wants to purchase Kovacic outright, but that a loan has been suggested as another possibility if Madrid doesn’t want to sell him this summer.

What’s so grossly unfair about this is that if Kovacic does end up at Chelsea that gives them a midfield of N’Golo Kante, Jorginho, and Kovacic. And they’re not even in the Champions League this season!!

I just want some nice things. Why can’t we have nice things?