Kovačić story suspect
TRANSFER TALK
Tottenham permanently keep an eye on the squads of the financially larger clubs like Real Madrid, PSG and Barcelona to see who isn't getting into the side and may, therefore, become available.
One player we were linked with before he joined Real Madrid is 22-year-old (23 in May) Croatian international Mateo Kovačić. The central midfielder signed for the Spanish giants from Italian side Inter Milan in August last summer for £28.35 million (€32.68m - AUS$45.70m - US$35.15m) and has a contract until 2021.
The Daily Mirror tell us he is struggling for game time this season, he has in fact played 1,642 minutes of football, 1,181 minutes of that in 18 LaLiga games. He isn't a first choice central midfielder and at the start of the season he gained more playing time than he does now, he has started 14 of the 28 games played.
Since an ankle injury in January his LaLiga game time reads, 15 minutes, 12 minutes, 77 minutes (1 goal and 1 assist), 2 minutes, 61 minutes, 71 minutes (1 assist), 19 minutes and then 2 games sat on the bench.
The Mirror claim his representatives have met with Real Madrid officials to discuss his long-term future and that he has a buyout clause of £21.8 million (€25.14m - AUS$35.14m - US$27.03m), which is less than he was bought for. On top of that the Mirror claim that fee would be slashed if they decided to sell.
It doesn't all add up does it. Real Madrid are a club that insist on buyback clauses so if a player is a success he can be bought back at a set fee, in the way they did with Álvaro Morata brining him back from Juventus against their wishes.
If you add into the mix that French publication Don Balon suggest PSG manager Unai Emery has asked sporting director Patrick Kluivert to get Mateo Kovačić this summer and a fee of £39.03 million (€45m - AUS$62.92m - US$48.39m) is mentioned, then the Mirror story looks to be suspect.
Further THBN Reading
Transfer news from Italy
Italian reports say we are watching Suso
Spurs still watching Munir
Spurs reportedly watching the most sought after player in Spain
Ghoulam changing agents will rule out Spurs move
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