According to Fabrizio Romano, Man City are in “concrete talks” with Chelsea star Mateo Kovacic and the Blues are “open to selling” the midfielder.
The Croatia international joined Chelsea on an initial loan deal in 2018 and his move from Real Madrid was made permanent a year later for around €45m.
The 29-year-old has proven to be an excellent addition as he has been one of their more consistent performers over the past couple of seasons.
Kovacic made 37 appearances for the Blues across all competitions during the 2022/23 campaign but he was in and out of the team. He only managed to start 17 times in the Premier League.
The midfielder’s contract is up in 2024 and he looks to be nearing the end of his time at Chelsea. It was reported last month that he was in discussions with Man City.
Now Romano has revealed that “Manchester City have opened concrete talks to sign Kovacic in the summer”. He adds.
“Positive discussions took place with the player’s camp in the last few days over personal terms.
“Chelsea are open to selling Kovacic as part of their midfield revolution. Talks will continue soon.”
The Blues are looking to sell some squad players to reduce the chances of them breaking financial fair play regulations. They are in a troublesome position after spending around £600m on new signings over the past year.
Kovacic is valued at €40m by transfermarkt but he is likely to be sold for a lower fee given his current contract situation.
Mason Mount is another player who may be sold as part of Chelsea’s “midfield revolution”.
The England international is also out of contract in 2024 and he is admired by Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal and Newcastle United.
It was recently reported that Mount is ‘leaning towards’ a move to Man Utd but it remains to be seen if they will pursue the costly midfielder as most of their budget could be used on signing a new striker.
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Ex-Chelsea attacker Oscar has called for Mount to “stay” and be a “great player” for the Blues.
“When you have a difficult season, a lot of people think that the players don’t deserve to stay in the team anymore,” Oscar told talkSPORT.
“But I think Chelsea have a lot of good young players. Sometimes it’s better to keep these players and see if the coach wants these players for the team. Maybe he [Mount] can come back to play at the level that he can play at.
“Of course, he wants to play and he wants to play more. I think if he’s not happy at Chelsea, sometimes it’s better to find another team. If he’s still happy and if he wants to try and be a great player at Chelsea, he needs to stay.”
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