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#3 Mateo Kovacic
After having a difficult first season at Real Madrid, Mateo Kovacic played a central role in the Santiago Bernabeu outfit’s double winning campaign last season. It was because of the squad rotation policy in place by Zinedine Zidane, that allowed the Croatian international to feature prominently in the team, however, with the addition of Marcos Llorente and Dani Ceballos, the 23-year-old may struggle for game time.
The Croatian has an eye for a pass and is adept with his dribbling, while he is also capable of holding his own in tight spaces. The only area of weakness in the midfielder’s game is probably his ability to compete for aerial duels but given what else he brings to the team, it is something that can be ignored for now.
Kovacic is capable of playing both as a deep lying playmaker or a more advanced central midfielder. He can form a key partnership with Granit Xhaka to allow the attacking players enjoy more freedom in their game. The only caveat here is that Real Madrid will not let him go on the cheap.
