Iceland vs Croatia, World Cup 2018: Mateo Kovacic will have Premier League clubs queuing to sign him upon Real Madrid exit, scouting report

Kovacic can become a very accomplished player in England with whoever wins the battle to sign him.

Mateo Kovacic made his debut for Dinamo Zagreb aged 16 years and 198 days, then moved to Inter Milan where he became one of the most sort after players in Europe and signed for Real Madrid where he has won three Champions Leagues.

The queue to sign Kovacic is already forming after the Croatia international announced he intends to leave Real Madrid in an honest interview with Marca. “I would like to play more at Real Madrid because I love football and I love being on the pitch,” he said.

“I understand the situation, but because of that I believe the best thing for me would be to go to another club where I’d have the opportunity to play regularly as a starter. Of course I am not happy when I don’t play.”

Manchester United, Napoli, Arsenal and Tottenham are some of the teams reportedly linked with the 24-year-old, as well as Manchester City who will move for him if a deal for Jorginho falls through.

Croatia’s final Group D match against Iceland was a chance to rest some players with first place in the group a likely outcome before a ball had been kicked, but for Kovacic it was an audition to show Europe’s biggest clubs what he can do in his first start of the tournament.

Kovacic was given a relatively free role in a three-man central midfield and showed why Pep Guardiola is particularly interested in his services. Milan Badelj grabbed the headlines with a strike to give Croatia the lead which was cancelled out by Gylfi Sigurdsson from the penalty spot, and the story of the game is that Croatia comfortably topped the group winning all three games as Argentina crashed out. But, working away behind the scenes as Modric and Badelj took centre stage was Kovacic who was neatly keeping things ticking over.

Kovacic ran the midfield against Iceland (AFP/Getty Images)

He attempted 79 passes and completed 79. It was a complete midfield performance from Kovacic who buzzed around and popped up in all areas of the pitch, all while evading the attention of Iceland’s defenders.

The tidy flicks, neat one-twos and inventive passing all came in deep areas of the pitch where it did not directly harm Iceland. Perhaps this is down to Andrej Kramaric’s static play at the tip of the team, but Kovacic has previously shown he can be creative while at Real Madrid in the Champions League.

Premier League clubs will have watched on in awe with the way that Kovacic looked after the ball so well. At the age of 24 his best years are presumably ahead of him, and if he can continue this upward trajectory he is riding, he can become a very accomplished player in England with whoever wins the battle to sign him.