Chelsea legend Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has urged the Blues to avoid the permanent signing of Mateo Kovacic from Real Madrid at the end of the season. The Croatia international joined the Blues on a season-long loan from Los Blancos at the beginning of the season and he has since been a regular feature under Maurizio Sarri with more than 40 appearances across all competitions.

Despite this, there have been many sections of the fans, who have not been impressed with the overall showing from the World Cup finalist and Hasselbaink has agreed with their opinion. Speaking on Sky Sports, he said that the Blues should restrict from signing Kovacic on a permanent basis, given he has not made much of an impact in the attacking point of view.

He said: ““I don’t think Chelsea should pursue Kovacic. I think he was signed as a way to get better value from the deal that saw Courtois go to Real Madrid“, but he hasn’t been used correctly at Chelsea. Kovacic is a defensive midfielder and that is where he performed best at Real Madrid, but Chelsea are already blessed with Jorginho and Kante in that role. Chelsea need a midfielder who has creativity and can split defences with a final pass, “who can set up“ strikers and achieve assists, but this is not Kovacic’s strengths.”

Kovacic has been in and out of the starting lineup over the course of the season where he has competed with Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek for the third midfield role. However, he has been the least effective among the trio in terms of creativity and he has managed just two assists while failing to find the scoresheet through the campaign. At present, the Blues are under a transfer ban for the next two transfer windows and it remains unsure whether they would be permitted to sign the Croatian, considering he has already been registered with the club.