Mateo Kovačić

[Opeum]

But Inter doesnt want to sell Guarin and the likes of it even due to financial difficulties but yes to kova?

 

[BasedGodPunk]

My biggest frustration from this sale is that we are supposed to be pushing for CL. Mancini has said it, Fassone and Ausilio said it, Thohir said it, the janitors at the san siro probably said it. But now we have zero creativity in the midfield. Who is left to link the mids to the forwards, Hernanes? We'll be competing for EL this year and that is so frustrating after all the promise that the transfer window started off with.

 

[Opeum]

We just gonna end up as a midtable team again

 

[Nyall]

Great, in fact, awesome to see that all this talk of Kova being "the future of this club and the one we will build around" meant nothing the second a decent offer came in..

I can't wait to see us win games with 3 DMs and Hernanes in the midfield starting Saturday..

 

[achilles]

I thought for sure Juve would sell Pogba this summer.

And instead... We sold Kova!

 

[Opeum]

Inter current management is probably the worst..

 

[Universe]

I thought for sure Juve would sell Pogba this summer.

And instead... We sold Kova!

We still have Guarin and Hernanes to compete with juve's midfield quality.

 

[Nyall]

I thought for sure Juve would sell Pogba this summer.

And instead... We sold Kova!

That right there is the difference between vision and whatever the fuck you call Erick Thorir's plan for Inter.. A young player's value isn't going to magically drop. We could have kept Kova for 2 for 3 more seasons and would have still been able to sell him for the same price we are now..

It's like Ausilio is playing FM with us right. The board refused to increase his transfer budget and now he's resorted to selling his best and most expensive piece to buy players. Why was our entire budget blown on players acquired before July 1st? It's cool we got K-Dog or whatever you guys call him, but why exactly did we go for such an expensive player that we clearly couldn't afford when we had so many gaps that needed to be filled, first?

Sure we may look better on paper, but how many times have we come out of the summer looking good on paper only to be total and complete shit because we got players who had never played together, had no chemistry and were not at all accustomed to the league? So many here praised Thorir for his actions and how he's better than a sugar daddy, and how he'll build Inter up the right way..

I hope you're all pleased. Our future is sold away for 40 million euros and our present is Hernanes and Guarin.

 

[wera]

We had this discussion before. Juventus sold Pirlo and Vidal and they still have enough quality to have a better midfield. With Inter you pull out Kovačić and we suddenly aren't even close to them. Big difference.

 

[Maslany]

Is it official now or still rumors?

 

[Max]

Its offtopic but they will end up playing with:

Sturaro(Pereyra) - Marchisio - Pogba

Thats nowhere near:

Vidal - Pirlo - Pogba

Khedira is broken, and they still need to invest so we will see.

They are not even close to the same level like last season. Neither we are (in midfield) but thats another story...

 

[wera]

nah, G, you'll see, Juve's gonna drop some serious midfield knowledge on all of us this year

I still remember how well their second string midfield played against us last year, they know how to play good football

 

[emcct]

Where can I buy this jacket? http://www.sempreinter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/kovacic4.jpg

 

[Bluenine]

Good article at the Guardian by Bandini. Once the rage dies down here, we cannot deny his conclusion below.

Mateo Kovacic: talented and versatile but a huge gamble for Real Madrid

Paolo Bandini

It took Mateo Kovacic more than 20 months to score his first Serie A goal. Signed by Internazionale from Dinamo Zagreb in January 2013, he was immediately given the No10 shirt but did not find the net in a league game until the following September. The drought ended at home to Sassuolo, Kovacic running on to a Dani Osvaldo lay-off before skipping past a defender and beating the keeper.

Relief gave way to excitement at San Siro. This was a strike that epitomised the midfielder’s best qualities – the composure, the elegance, the touch. Kovacic later added an assist in what became a 7-0 rout of Sassuolo, and supporters began to wonder whether he was finally ready to come of age.

A year later, the jury is still out in Milan. The 21-year-old finished the season with eight goals across all competitions but three came in a Europa League qualifier against the Icelandic club Stjarnan. He drifted in and out of favour during the remainder of the campaign, starting a modest 26 league games. He was not expected to make the first XI for the season opener against Atalanta.

Now we know he will not even be on the bench on Saturday. Barring any late hiccups, Kovacic will instead be a Real Madrid player after they agreed to pay Inter €32m up front, plus €3m in potential bonuses, for his services.

No one could be more surprised than Kovacic at this turn of events. Barely a month has passed since he gave a lengthy interview to Gazzetta dello Sport, in which he insisted repeatedly he would not leave. “I want to prove I am worthy of Inter, I want to win with this shirt,” he said. “Inter are the same as Real or Barcelona.”

If that felt like an optimistic assessment of his Italian employers – Inter are about to enter into their fourth consecutive season without Champions League football – then it is no more so than the one Real have made of Kovacic’s standing. This is a player who cost Inter €11m, plus bonuses in 2013 and has failed to establish himself as a leading man since.

Kovacic’s talent is not in doubt. There have been plenty of moments at Inter when he has left audiences gasping. It is tempting to wonder whether Real’s manager, Rafael Benítez, may have fallen in love while managing against him with Napoli last April.

Ten minutes into a 0-0 draw, Kovacic flipped the ball between his two feet on the edge of the box, leaving an opponent flat on his back, before forcing Pepe Reina into a sharp save. Then there was the first-half free-kick that sent the goalkeeper sprawling and the late through ball that put Yuto Nagatomo in on goal while taking two defenders out of the equation.

If Kovacic had performed to this level every week, Inter might have thought twice about selling, even for such a high fee but Gazzetta’s Matteo Brega spoke for the majority of Inter fans when he lamented that the Croat: “Plays like the turn signal in your car: now he’s on, now he’s off, now he’s on, now he’s off again”.

That is not entirely Kovacic’s fault. He was not granted much continuity after arriving at Inter, who have changed manager twice since he arrived – with each new appointment bringing drastic changes to the team’s tactical approach. Last season alone, Kovacic was deployed as a left-winger, a forward, a trequartista and a deep-lying playmaker.

The problem is that, even now, it is not clear which of these positions he is best suited to. Kovacic has the vision and range of passing to pick apart an opponent from deep but lacks the bite to win tackles and give cover to the defence. He has the finesse and footwork to bamboozle a defender but too often seems to get lost and overrun as a No10.

His frustration at not being granted a run of games in any one position has been evident. When Inter’s latest manager, Roberto Mancini, told reporters that Kovacic needed to show he was capable of producing 30 strong performances in a row instead of only the one, he responded that: “Playing every week helps you to find your intensity. This is something I need to earn but playing every week helps a lot.”

What chance does he have, though, of finding the continuity he desires in Madrid? Kovacic can hardly expect to start every week in a squad who have Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, James Rodríguez and Isco competing for places in midfield.

The most plausible explanation for Real’s investment is that they have one eye fixed on the long term. Kovacic is known to think highly of Modric, who is, in turn, said to view his compatriot as a natural heir. It is reasonable to think the younger player may benefit from spending time around a team-mate of such experience and talent, taking things slowly before growing into a greater role.

There are those who see this plan working and accuse Inter of being the ones to miscalculate their need. Luisito Suárez, who wore the No10 shirt for Inter through the 1960s, expressed the fear this may be a moment the club will regret every bit as much as the one to let Andrea Pirlo join Milan in 2001.

“Andrea, too, was sold without having the patience to let him mature and then he became the player we all know,” said Suárez. “Kovacic has class … and don’t tell me he doesn’t do enough in the defensive phase because Pirlo defended badly at his age, too, then he improved this aspect of his game.”

Just because one situation resembles another does not mean history is destined to repeat itself. Inter have made plenty of bad transfer decisions down the years but moving on an inconsistent player – even a young and talented one – for almost three times what you purchased him for cannot be portrayed as bad business.

The greater gambles here belong to Real and Kovacic. Both will be hoping they do not have to wait 20 months for a goal to help validate their faith in one another.

 

[Wings]

Who said anything about giving the manager 100% control over everything? Maybe you misunderstand what I said, so let me explain.

The ideal system is when a club defines the vision. Then hires managers and players who suit that vision, so that even with a churn, there always is consistency and good transfers are rarely wasted. In that system, the manager's influence in the transfer market can be limited. Based on last 5 years evidence, Inter HAS NO VISION. If you disagree, please do show me the vision that explains our hiring of our last 7 managers. Its fucking as random as it can be.

The best case scenario we can assume, is that Mancini was hired because the club either believed (and adopted) in HIS vision for Inter, or sat down together and agreed on a vision. If that is the case, then Mancini's vision and the club's vision are the same now. If part of this vision is for Inter to play with possession and width, then we must give the manager the wide players he needs. I am not saying that if Mancini wants De Bruyne, we must give him De Bruyne - the club is still responsible to manage the finances - but if he asks for a winger with certain characteristics, we must give hm a winger with similar characteristics (say a Perisic).

We also must define and adopt this vision for Inter for the longer term, whether Mancini stays or not. Which means that the next manager we hire should be an expert in playing with possession and width. So that all the investments Inter have made on players who suit this style are not wasted, and the next manager can start where Mancini left off and improve on the squad. That is how we can grow.

But the biggest danger is if we do not give our new manager the kind of players he wants. If Mancini wants a winger, and we tell him to use Hernanes or Kovacic there instead, that is disastrous. It brings into question why we hired Mancini in the first place for so much money. Because clearly we must have discussed and agreed all these things when we hired him... Inter must support their manager as long as he is working within the defined vision and within our financial plan.

So you don't want to give the manager 100% control, but you're okay with the manager selling our crown jewel entirely on his whim? How is that not pretty much 100% control? At that point, what is there left that he can't do?

Just because Ausilio has been an idiot with no vision doesn't mean that he should let Mancini be an idiot with him. The biggest danger is not refusing the manager's demands, the biggest danger is letting Mancini do whatever the fuck he wants. Mancini has to support Inter as much as Inter have to support him. (More, I would say).

And you and I both know that Mancini's hiring had nothing to do with his 'vision' or suitability for the team. He's shown no vision, as his six-month honeymoon and rejection of Shaqiri has displayed. His hiring was entirely based on his experience. Just like Mazzarri. Just like Hernanes and Vidic. Just like the Manchester United and Apple marketing executives who have opened up new streams of revenue so we can afford Kondogbia and not have to sell Kovacic. (o wait)

 

[Universe]

nah, G, you'll see, Juve's gonna drop some serious midfield knowledge on all of us this year

I still remember how well their second string midfield played against us last year, they know how to play good football

That was one of the most humiliating moments of my life. I'm not even slightly exaggerating. Juve playing a second string side, at our home stadium, and still completely toying with us.

So you don't want to give the manager 100% control, but you're okay with the manager selling our crown jewel entirely on his whim? How is that not pretty much 100% control? At that point, what is there left that he can't do?

Just because Ausilio has been an idiot with no vision doesn't mean that he should let Mancini be an idiot with him. The biggest danger is not refusing the manager's demands, the biggest danger is letting Mancini do whatever the fuck he wants. Mancini has to support Inter as much as Inter have to support him. (More, I would say).

And you and I both know that Mancini's hiring had nothing to do with his 'vision' or suitability for the team. He's shown no vision, as his six-month honeymoon and rejection of Shaqiri has displayed. His hiring was entirely based on his experience. Just like Mazzarri. Just like Hernanes and Vidic. Just like the Manchester United and Apple marketing executives who have opened up new streams of revenue so we can afford Kondogbia and not have to sell Kovacic. (o wait)

Great post. I see I have another rival to destroy for the inaugural Best and Most Handsome Korean Poster award which will surely be added to this years FIF Oscars.

 

[Devious]

This guy surely knows shit about Inter, cause sure as fuck history tends to repeat itself here.

It's a good businees deal, but every other aspect of this transfer is negative.

Kova wouldnt have saved Inter, but he was the only player that gave us glimpses of hope, not just on the pitch but also off the pitch, keeping Kova and putting faith in him and attempting to buy quality players around him like Shaqir, Kondegbia and Jovetic all gave the fans alot of confidence in the management believing that they are working hard to insure the success of this team now and on the long run. But now everything has been taken away after the scandalous kick out of Shaqiri and now the vague departure of Kova.

It is obvious to me now that the current management has no specific plan, they work in a very random manner, nothing else can explain what happened. They have been insisting on selling some players to balance the books but no one ever mentioned that the key players are not to be spared from this issue because obviously we'd want to make moves that should make our team stronger, and not the opposite, cause it's simply fucken common sense.

Now here is what is going to happen in the following two months, we'll start the season with extremely shitty performances and we'll start drawing to shitty teams and then lose the derby. Then the eagerly already furious fans will revolt and will give the team hell in every following games, in October Mancini will crack under pressure which he obviously wouldnt tolerate ala Liverpool 2008, and he'll go crying to the press that the team isnt performing because of the fans reaction in the stands.

If Mancini is lucky he might make it till November/December. Then we might make Stankovic a caretaker ala Strama, something will happen that'll help Deki win some games and it could work quite well for few weeks until ofcourse everything start collapsing. and we might end the season 8th again if we were lucky.

History doesnt repeat itself with Inter he says. We'll see about that soon.

 

[Jacquez]

Good article at the Guardian by Bandini. Once the rage dies down here, we cannot deny his conclusion below.

I want to deny that conclusion. We shouldn't be in for good business - we should be in for building a strong team, with a high ceiling for development. And Kovacic ought to be a vital part of that plan.

Good business should not be a parameter for Inter, when we've had so many bad dealings, both in and out, that even a huge transfer such as this can't possibly nullify.

As Suarez said, it's not healthy or wise to have an eighteen year old be the center of your team - it's stupid, and should not occur in a supposedly top team such as Inter. Most players would break under that kind of pressure - but not Kovacic. He was merely inconsistent, and still our best midfielder by a large margin - and only just turned 21! If that fact combined with his performances do not constitute a potentially great player, then I don't know what does.

 

[Fapuccino]

I can't people there are still people who are discussing whether it's good business etc...because Kovacic is young and inconsistent. What the hell did we spend the money on? Another young inconsistent fucking midfielder who is even less creative, so now we have a massive hole in midfield.

Apart from Messi and Ronaldo every player here would be garbage and "inconsistent", especially when you're surrounded by clowns with 0 movement or footballing i.q.

 

[Universe]

Waiting for the moment that inter.it publishes "Mateo Kovacic to Real Madrid - F.C. Internazionale Milano would like to communicate that an agreement has been found between the club and Real Madrid for the player. F.C. Internazionale Milano would like to wish Mateo all the best."

It's like being on death row and waiting for the executioner. In other news, I'm going to bed. Hope I see none of you in the morning.