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Chelsea will not exercise their option to buy Croatian midfielder Matteo Kovacic, and he is set to return to his parent club Real Madrid.
They, in turn, do not want him, and he is likely to be sold to Inter Milan, now ironically enough, managed by ex-Chelsea boss Antonio Conté.
Kovacic arrived on a season-long loan at Stamford Bridge last season and made 51 appearances for the Blues in all competitions, helping them to a third place League finish and success in the Europa League final. However, he only provided two assists in total and failed to find the net once, and failed to impress the Stamford Bridge hierarchy he was worth taking on a permanent basis – even if they were not facing a two-window transfer ban.
It was Inter Milan who sold the 25-year old midfielder to Real in the first place in the summer of £34 million, but will be able to buy him back for much less money as his value has subsequently depreciated considerably after three difficult years.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.