Handing over an initial £25m for a four-time Champions League winner seems a steal.
Mateo Kovacic is set to become Manchester City’s first signing of the summer for that sum and will probably be their best value-for-money midfield acquisition since Ilkay Gundogan’s 2016 £20m switch from Borussia Dortmund.
The club captain will leave the Etihad this summer. Bernardo Silva could also bow out while Aymeric Laporte’s final-day tears indicate his future lies elsewhere next season.
Whether Gundogan and Bernardo end up leaving or not, Pep Guardiola is not waiting around to rely on their commitment. Kovacic offers a new dynamic to his midfield options, being both a bulldog and a passing maestro.
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At 29, he brings experience and brawn that will only aid the likes of Rodri and Kalvin Phillips, even if he is not in every starting XI. It’s an interesting signing from Guardiola, who has flipped his defensive mindset to big and bulky.
It’s a department he will be keen to bolster if Laporte is to exit. City have been linked with Kovacic’s Croatian teammate Josko Gvardiol. The RB Leipzig defender had a heroic World Cup in spite of being turned inside out by Lionel Messi in the semi-finals.
Guardiola got a close-up of him in Leipzig’s 8-1 aggregate thrashing by City in the Champions League knock-outs in another night to forget. The 21-year-old still has a lot to learn but his raw talent shown in almost every other match indicates he can grow into some player.
The centre-half is not only of interest to City. Chelsea have been tracking him for some time and at one stage Kovacic tried to act as an agent.
Back in September, the pivot revealed how he wanted Gvardiol to move to Stamford Bridge to kindle their on-pitch relationship that ultimately guided Croatia to the last four of the World Cup and final of the Nations League.
"At the club, they asked me about Josko, I told them all the best," he said. "I don’t need to say anything about his football, they know what kind of player he is, and his character is excellent.
"I have seen in the national team how eager he is to play, he has a great career ahead of him, and I hope that one day we will play together in the club."
Kovacic can now fulfil that ambition at City. If Guardiola wishes to sanction a chase for the youngster, then Kovacic can lend his persuasive services.
Gvardiol may feel more willing to test the waters at City if someone he knows well will be in the same boat - not that a player would turn down the opportunity to join a Treble-winning outfit led by one of the greatest minds to grace football. It's just another reason to say yes.
