TalkSPORT pundit, Ally McCoist, has suggested that Manchester City’s signing of Mateo Kovacic may not be enough to replace Ilkay Gundogan.
After the club announced on Monday that the German will be joining Barcelona as a free agent, they then revealed on Tuesday that they had signed Kovacic from Chelsea on a four-year deal.
This has now led to one pundit sharing his views on these two bits of business from City.
McCoist unsure about Kovacic
Speaking on talkSPORT, McCoist said this about Kovacic and whether or not he’ll be a suitable replacement for Gundogan.
He said: “I think he’s an excellent player and I can see him in that team because he keeps the ball, but is he the perfect replacement for Gundogan? I’m not sure.”
Taking into account how the Croatian only scored six goals in 221 appearances for Chelsea, compared to the 60 goals that Gundogan scored in 304 games for at City, this aspect of his game could be why McCoist has some doubts about the 29-year-old’s ability to do the job the departing midfielder has done over the years.
However, with the duo having a similar rate of shot-creating actions made per 90 minutes in the Premier League last season (Kovacic’s rate of 3.27 vs Gundogan’s rate of 3.44), this shows how useful the new City midfielder can be in terms of setting his new teammates up with goalscoring opportunities.
Also, with the new recruit racking up a higher combined total of tackles and interceptions (55 vs 50) in the league last season than City’s captain, this showcases an area where Kovacic could be an improvement over the departing midfielder.
Either way, the fact that he is City’s first signing of the summer shows how keen the club were to bring in him and suggests that they believe he has what it takes to be a solid addition to their squad.
