Chelsea's Mateo Kovacic has been labelled as the best midfielder in the Premier League amid talks of increased competition in the Blues squad since Saul Niguez's arrival.
Kovacic, 27, has staked a claim for the position in the centre of the park after his impressive performances at the start of the new season, most recently against Aston Villa.
In that game specifically, the Croatian had the awareness to poach Tyrone Ming's back-pass and make him pay with a cute finish over Jed Steer.
His ability to add goals and assists to his game was present against the West Midlands outfit and that, coupled with his tenacity and work rate in the midfield to break up play, has made many people realise that maybe the 27-year-old deserves more respect than he has been given since joining from Real Madrid in 2019, having enjoyed a successful loan spell at Stamford Bridge previous to that.
One man who has had a wake-up call in relation to the midfielder's credentials is Sky Sports pundit Clinton Morrison, who has made a big statement with his latest verdict.
When asked on Soccer Saturday by Jeff Sterling who he thinks is the best player in the same position as Chelsea's No. 8, Morrison opted for the most surprising option out of the Blues' quartet of world-class footballers that occupy a similar position on the pitch.
"Who is the best midfielder at the moment? Kovacic," Morrison admitted. "At this moment, he's playing the best out of everyone."
The importance of Kovacic hasn't been lost on manager Thomas Tuchel, who has spoken in the past about the impact his absence has on his team selections.
Speaking ahead of the Arsenal Premier League encounter at the end of the 2020/21 season, the German said: "Kova is a big loss with his ability to drive with the ball, his speed on the ball, without the ball. Kova is such a positive character and unique player, a mean fighter on who you can always rely in games and training.
"We really miss him, he is a good match with Jorgi and N’Golo in all combinations. So it’s a big miss and I can’t wait until he’s back in full team training."
But it's not just his footballing abilities that have now got the deserved recognition as teammate Kai Havertz has previously referred to when speaking about the player in question himself.
"One of the players that helps me a lot for example was Kova. I had from day one a very good relationship with him", Havertz told the club's media.
"He's a different character of playing football. But I think we share the same understanding of football.
"Before the game, a very calm person and for me this is good sometimes to be next to somebody that is very calm."
With the incredible competition in central midfield, it's never nailed on that Kovacic will start but his performance in the most recent games have given Tuchel serious selection headaches ahead of the London derby against Tottenham.
