Real Madrid’s new boy Mateo
Kovacic, born in Austria to Bosnian Croat parents, began playing in his local academy
LASK Linz. Known for his great technical ability as well as his dribbling, he
can play in a number of positions in midfield, where Giovanni Trapattoni compared
Kovacic to be a mixture of Kaka and Clarence Seedorf because of his style of
play and his technical characteristics. Furthermore, Javier Zanetti stated that
with the exception of Ronaldo, when he arrived at inter when he was 21; Kovacic
was the most promising youngster he’s seen in 19 years at the club.
In 2013 when Kovacic was 13, he was spotted by
scouts from across Europe’s elite including teams such as Ajax, Internazionale,
Juventus and Bayern Munich; however he opted for a move to Croatian giants
Dinamo Zagreb to further his development. Unfortunately in 2009 Kovacic suffered
a serious injury when he broke his leg but after a lengthy recovery came back
in 2010.
Kovacic began training with the first
team under Vahid Halilhodzic, where Kovacic made his debut in the 2010-11
season against Hrvatski Dragovoljac on the 20th November 2010. In
the process Kovacic scored Zagreb’s fourth goal in a 6-0 drumming, which made
Kovacic the youngest goal scorer in the history of the League at the tender age
of 16 years and 198 days. In his first senior season Kovacic contributed towards
the league title win with 7 appearances and scoring the once.
The following season, Kovacic swiftly
established himself as a first team regular where he mainly played on the left
of a 4-2-3-1. Kovacic helped Zargeb reach the group stage of the UEFA Champions
League for the first time in over a decade and at the tender age of 17; Kovacic
started the first game of the Champions League against Spanish giants Real Madrid.
Kovacic finished his first European season scoring against Olympique Lyonnais
in the final group game, which made Kovacic the second youngest scorer in the Champions
League.
During a league match against NK Lucko,
Kovacic became the youngest player to wear the Zargeb armband, taking the
captaincy from Leandro Cufre. Overall it was a successful season for both
Kovacic and Zagreb; as Zargeb went on to win their seventh consecutive league
title, as well as the Croatian cup, where in the final, Kovacic scored the first
goal in a 3-1 win. In December that year, Kovacic was also awarded the Croatian
Football Hope of the Year. Kovacic made 25 appearances, scoring on 5 occasions
throughout the season.
At the beginning of the 2012-13
season, Kovacic suffered a metatarsal injury, which made him miss several crucial
qualifying games for the Champions League. Luckily Kovacic went on to make a
full recovery just in time for the first group game against FC Porto, where
Kovacic went on to play in all 6 group matches and continued to impress with his
fantastic performances. In October 2012, Kovacic was nominated for the Golden
Boy award. In January 2013 after much speculation, Kovacic was sold to Internazionale
for a fee of €11 million; all in all, Kovacic won two consecutive League and
Cup doubles and made a total of 73 official appearances, which 12 of these came
in the Champions League, where he scored 9 goals.
After signing, Kovacic made his
debut 3 days later as a half time substitute against Siena, and on the 14th
February made his full European debut for inter, providing the winning assist
for Rodrigo Palacio (Nicknamed La Trenza
which means the braid). As Inter proceeded to the next round, manger Andrea
Stramaccioni hailed his performance and stated that Kovacic was a star of the future.
In the end, Kovacic started nearly all of the clubs Serie A fixtures, making 18
appearances in all competitions; however Inter finished in a disappointed 9th
place.
The 2013-14 under new manager Walter
Mazzarri, Kovacic struggled unlike under Stramaccioni. Kovacic managed 32
appearances, however only started 14 of these and only played the full 90 on 8
occasions. Throughout the season Kovacic made 35 appearances but failed to get
on the score sheet.
The final season before Kovacic’s
big money move to Real Madrid started very well and in spectacular fashion,
scoring a hat trick against Stjarnan and scoring and assisting 2 in a 7-0 drumming
over Sassuolo.
In the 2014-15 season Kovacic was more of a regular playing in 44 matches and scoring 8 which was enough for Real Madrid to agree £25 million fee for the young Croat.
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