Towards the end of last month, Manchester City signed Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic on a four-year deal. Kovacic’s arrival at the Champions League-winning club makes him the third Croatian to wear the City jersey. The 29-year-old’s signing was also met with a lot of delight from City fans.
Bringing the player to the Ethihad costed City a sum of £25m, plus an extra £5m in add-ons. So far, Kovacic is City’s only signing in the transfer window. For the talent Kovacic possesses, one could say that his signing was great business by the City board. One man who agrees to the same is Rio Ferdinand.
On his FIVE YouTube channel, Ferdinand labeled City’s signing of Kovacic as a ‘shrewd signing.’ He said:
"“Man City, Kovacic is a great signing. Obviously, they’ve lost Gundogan, the captain, but I think Kovacic is a shrewd signing, at that price as well. I think he was £30m and in the current market, that’s huge business, great business. He’s full of experience, won the biggest trophies, and a different player to what they have got in that area.”"
Indeed, City seems to have struck gold when it comes to Kovacic’s signing. With former City captain Ilkay Gundogan moving to FC Barcelona, Kovacic will play an interesting role in the middle of the park for Guardiola’s side. It will be interesting to see what the Croatian can produce in his upcoming debut season for the club.
Manchester City will kick off the Premier League action in August
After Manchester City play Arsenal in the Community Shield final on August 6th, 2023, the team in blue will prepare for their first Premier League game of next season against Burnley Football Club at Turf Moor. This will be an interesting test for the champions who will be visiting the newly promoted team.
In the last five games against MCFC, Burnley has not been able to register a single victory. As a matter of fact, they haven’t been able to score a goal in the last five games against City either. While on paper City is expected to do well against Burnley, it is always challenging to play at Turf Moor, and Guardiola won’t take his opponents lightly.