Jamie Carragher has praised Mateo Kovacic and admits the Chelsea midfielder was unfortunate not to be named in his Premier League team of the season.
The former Liverpool defender selected three midfielders in a 4-3-3 formation, with Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne, Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson and Aston Villa's Jack Grealish making up his trio.
Kovacic has been one of Chelsea's most impressive performers this season, as Frank Lampard's side maintain their push for automatic Champions League qualification.
And when pushed by a supporter on why he left out the Croatia international, Carragher said the former Real Madrid star almost made the cut; and hailed his display in the 3-1 defeat to Everton in December.
Everton led 2-0 at half-time before Kovacic pulled one back in the second half, but Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored his second of the game late on to seal the points.
The Sky Sports pundit tweeted: "Huge improvement on last year, some great performances especially first half at Everton were he was outstanding.
"Very close to selection!"
Kovacic joined Chelsea on a one-year loan deal at the beginning of 2018/19 before making his move permanent last summer.
Despite a difficult spell under former manager Maurizio Sarri, Kovacic has flourished under Lampard this term, and the Croatian has compared the Blues head coach to Zinedine Zidane.
“I came to Chelsea under Sarri, but I must say that Lampard is an exceptional manager," Kovacic told FourFourTwo.
“He has kept the character he had as a player in his personality as a coach, which has inspired all of us.
“He commits himself with everything he’s got. Training is always challenging and different from last season.
“That’s probably the main difference between Lampard and Sarri, who made the concept of training quite monotonous.
“There were a lot of similar training sessions with a focus on tactical preparation.
“[Zinedine] Zidane was similar to the way Frank Lampard is a coaching, and their approaches really suit.”
