Mateo Kovacic
- Thread starter Barry Mead
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Syn_13
Fly On, Little Wing
- Jul 17, 2008
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I was sceptical of him when he first joined Inter, albeit accepted he was very young and had potential. Mazzarri had trouble with him early on, wanted him to improve on the defensive side of his game and put more of a shift in across the pitch. However, it's starting to click for him now and Mazzarri even said on Italian TV the other night that he wished he had a few more Kovacic's in his team. Inter will certainly look for a lot of money if someone is to prise him away.
The latest has been rumours of Liverpool and Man United showing interest (again) but Inter reiterating he isn't for sale.
The feeling is that it would take a substantial offer for them to be willing to sell (journalists speculating at least 25-30m).
Borussia Dortmund wanted to buy him in the winter but they were flat out told he was not for sale. After the cold treatment from Mazzarri, the criticisms, the lack of minutes, it was believed he might be sacrificed in the summer. But now he is "hot shit" once again. Amazing what a run of games in the side can do to change everything.
The feeling is that it would take a substantial offer for them to be willing to sell (journalists speculating at least 25-30m).
Borussia Dortmund wanted to buy him in the winter but they were flat out told he was not for sale. After the cold treatment from Mazzarri, the criticisms, the lack of minutes, it was believed he might be sacrificed in the summer. But now he is "hot shit" once again. Amazing what a run of games in the side can do to change everything.
DaSpurs
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- Jan 20, 2013
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Unfortunate. Feel he is exactly the kind of player we could use in the middle.
No idea how substantial these claims are, but according to reports out of Italy, Thohir wants to keep hold of Kovacic at all costs and has over the last couple of months turned down very good offers from Liverpool, Tottenham and Real Madrid.
IF true, I would at least find it positive that Spurs were interested. On the flip side, they missed their chance the first time he was transferred (from Dinamo).
IF true, I would at least find it positive that Spurs were interested. On the flip side, they missed their chance the first time he was transferred (from Dinamo).
Ghost Hardware
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- Aug 31, 2012
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Would love him at Spurs, great player that can help us a lot. Doubt they will sell him tho, if he has a good season next year his price could skyrocket. It would be bad business for inter to sell now.
guy
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- May 31, 2007
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I think a lot of us know it needs upgrading!
DaSpurs
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Many do, but it appears to me the majority is still of the belief that our midfield as it stands is sufficient for a top four push upon a little tactical injection. I certainly think Poch could bring it to see significant improvement with the current personnel, but they won't be consistently besting the teams we'll need to beat out of the way to get top four in the immediate future.
Barry Mead
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Good that we are looking at players with that kind of ability, we could certainly use a player who can both pass and dribble past players and who tends to be direct in his attacking play, pity really that he did so well later in the season when he got a chance
DaSpurs
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Ha no kidding. Saw those two gifs from his game against Lazio and instantly thought, "fuuuck there goes that possibility."
mill
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- May 21, 2007
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I don't think our midfield is sufficient but I also realise we can't just keep signing cm's every window, said at the time paulinho was the wrong type of player that wenneeded. I can't sell us selling enough cm's to be able to bring one in this summer
DaSpurs
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Yeah I don't expect any major changes to happen, but I also consequently don't expect us to be getting top four next season. I think one may be brought in, but that's only if Sandro goes and irrespective of whether players leave that ordinarily play next to the CDM (No 8).
mill
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I think 2 dm's (sandro and capoue) and bentaleb as backup to the no 8 type is enough and can't see us selling both dembele and paulinho
Barry Mead
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I can't see Dembele and Siggy being around next season, we'd still have excess bodies in mnidfield, it really depends on what Poch wants to do with Bentalab and Carroll (assuming as well Livermore will be sold)
If he wants them getting games and sends them out on loan we'll be left with Sandro, Capoue, Paulinho, Eriksen, Holtby maybe. I wouldn't class Chadli as a midfielder and I'm not really sure what Poch might think of him but I'd class him more as an attacker
Arguably that would be enough options but we lack a deep lying playmaker, Capoue has a decent range of passing but I think we could use a more quick vision and reaction passer that can spread the play and launch attacks quickly when he sees the chance but keep the engine ticking over as it were when no one is making an advanced run
DaSpurs
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Agree on your personnel expected come the beginning of the season. I'm not sure why a sizable number of people think Siggy will be applicable to Poch's system, as I think it'd be quite the opposite given I'm not sure I've ever seen him make a tackle in a high position, much less press the opponent into making a poor pass. His defending on the wing has cost us immensely against the better sides (City in January), and I see no reason for him to play over Chadli in either the LW or CAM positions as backup. Ironically enough, it seems his best defensive work is from CM, but unfortunately he just doesn't provide enough forward play from deep, or anything unique for that matter, to merit being given a spot there.
Could not agree with you more that we'd lack a DLP. Has driven me nuts the amount of times the last two years, and especially last year, that we played so horizontally and backwards. I think it's possible Holtby can become this player, but he'll have to develop a few areas of his game. Ideally, I'd like to see if Carroll can get a Prem loan, and if we can hold on to Bentaleb. As we saw from this past year, having two players for each position for a long season with four fronts is almost never enough, so having a youth player available in utility with Prem experience and now about to be World Cup experience (and especially one who's capable of playing both the holding role and the more advanced No 8 role), would be extremely beneficial in keeping us from becoming too depleted. Veljkovic is not ready for that CDM role after Capoue or Sandro/replacement would be gone.
Barry Mead
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Not really been much involved first half tonight, if he doesn't shine at the WC maybe we can get him on the cheap 
Vrsaljko is looking very good at LB especially as he generally plays RB
Vrsaljko is looking very good at LB especially as he generally plays RB
DaSpurs
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Not really been much involved first half tonight, if he doesn't shine at the WC maybe we can get him on the cheap
Vrsaljko is looking very good at LB especially as he generally plays RB
The problem is all three of Croatia's current CM's are a bit better in reserved positions, and their CF is well below all these supporting players in terms of talent. Rough litmus test, but I like your thinking nonetheless
Barry Mead
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If Croatia had a real quality striker they'd be a serious threat, if Brazil hadn't had the ref and officials on their side tonight they may well have lost. Olic was awful tonight 100 pc trier but he's too old now to put the incredible work rate in that he used to to compensate for his lack of quality. Srna also looked like he is reaching the point when his game is declining quite a bit. Maybe early days of the tournament and they'll both improve but Olic's game was always work rate and it looks like he just can't provide that degree anymore
