Wednesday saw claims that Chelsea and Real Madrid had come to an agreement for the permanent transfer of Mateo Kovacic.
The Croatian midfielder spent last season on loan at the Premier League club and despite the registration ban in place at Stamford Bridge, the club are able to complete the signing because he’s already registered as their player.
Then on Thursday, AS said they’d spoke to a source close to the negotiation who told them that whilst the deal was very close to being agreed, it wasn’t quite there yet.
Despite them saying it wasn’t done, they made clear it would be soon, perhaps even today.
Marca go along with that line in their Friday edition, and report everything is done. The transfer is ‘totally closed’ and is merely lacking ‘official confirmation’ from both of the clubs.
Real Madrid had initially been looking to get €50m for the player, and Marca state the transfer fee is €45m, which both sides will probably be happy with.
