Barcelona plotting €60 million swoop for Juventus superstar, Chelsea set to sign Barcelona star in January and more: Transfer Round-up, 5 December 2018

By Shambhu Ajith

Modified Dec 05, 2018 13:47 GMT

FC Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde is looking to make a statement in the winter transfer window

Mateo Kovacic wants to make stay permanent at Chelsea

Mateo Kovacic has taken well to life at Stamford Bridge

The Real Madrid midfielder who is on loan at Chelsea could very well end up making his move a permanent one in the summer. That's according to Spanish outlet AS via Sky Sports Transfer Centre.

The report claims that Real Madrid are displeased at Kovacic's attempts to make his stay at Chelsea permanent and have decided to close their doors on him.

Los Blancos are reportedly ready to sell him to Chelsea for €30 million so as to turn a profit on the initial sum they paid to Inter Milan in order to sign Kovacic.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Sripad