Ivan Rakitic’s agent reveals transfer to Chelsea from Barcelona ‘impossible’ this summer
Croatian lined up as Cesc Fabregas replacement but looks set to stay at Nou Camp
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IVAN RAKITIC’S agent has warned Chelsea it will be “impossible” to sign the Barcelona midfielder this summer.
Recent reports claim Maurizio Sarri wants to bring the Croatian to Stamford Bridge after losing playmaker Cesc Fabregas to Monaco last month.
Chelsea missed out on Leandro Paredes to Paris Saint-Germain and ended up failing to replace Fabregas.
Blues' chiefs apparently believe they can tempt Rakitic to the Premier League at the end of the season.
But the player’s agent is adamant he will remain at Barcelona, despite the impending arrival of Ajax’s Frenkie de Jong in a £75million deal.
Inter Milan have also been linked, : “Ivan wants to leave Spain in the summer? That’s impossible.”
However, it appears there is a glimmer of hope for Chelsea in their search of a new playmaker.
And it turns out he was at Stamford Bridge all along.
Real Madrid loanee Mateo Kovacic has impressed when asked to fill in for Jorginho recently.
And boss Sarri feels Rakitic’s compatriot is proving to be very adept at controlling the play from deep.
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Sarri said: “I don’t know [if we will suffer for not signing a midfielder] but I have to try with our own players. So, I think Kovacic could be a very good option. A very good option, then we need to recover completely Loftus-Cheek after his back problem.
“Then, we can play sometimes with Kovacic as a central midfielder and then Jorginho will be able to rest. We are trying in training with two players.
“The first is Ampadu and the second is Kovacic. It may be that for the characteristics, Kovacic is more suitable for this team.
“As you know, Ampadu is more defensive. Kovacic is really close to Jorginho in moving the ball really fast at one-touch. In the future, I think he will be able to do this position well.”