Handing over an initial £25m for a four-time Champions League winner seems a steal.
Mateo Kovacic is set to become Manchester City’s first signing of the summer for that sum and will probably be their best value-for-money midfield acquisition since Ilkay Gundogan’s 2016 £20m switch from Borussia Dortmund.
The club captain will leave the Etihad this summer. Bernardo Silva could also bow out while Aymeric Laporte’s final-day tears indicate his future lies elsewhere next season.
