He's a decent little player but his goalscoring ability is so bad.

Prefer Kovacic to Barkley but in terms of the attacking CM spot RLC is definitely the pick of the bunch. Still would like us to sign Kovacic as he’s a talented versatile player and can cover both Kante and Jorginho as well as start with them when we want to be more solid in midfield.

He’s only 24 as well so he can definitely improve

The thing is though Randy, Kova and Barkley are both pretty $hit but Barkley is marginally better as at least he is capable of scoring or doing something, but even forgetting that, Mount looks better than the pair of them, so we don't need all 3 of Mount, Kova, Barkley we only need 2, and there's no point paying 30m-40m to buy Kova when the other 2 are free

I’d sell Barkley and the fee we got for him would probably cover Kovacic’s fee. Just think Kovacic is a better overall footballer than Barkley - more intelligent tactically, better defensively, better at playing out of a press.

He just doesn’t score or assist but as a rotational player/occasional starter and once we’re getting goals regularly from the forward positions, that shouldn’t matter as much. Liverpool don’t really have any regular goal scoring CMs and they’re right up there with City.

If/when Mount joins our squad, he’d be competing with RLC for the attacking spot most likely. Kovacic would be covering all three spots.

Is he going to be happy sat on the bench though ? He left Madrid for game time. I can't see him permanently swapping one bench for another

Maybe not, but I don’t think he would be as excluded here as he was at Madrid. Covering all three CM positions and starting here and there would probably amount to quite a lot of game time over the course of the season.

RLC is developing into a nice little player. The transfer ban could be a blessing in a way because it could force the club to use him rather than sign another midfielder or two in the summer and he gets reduced minutes as a result.

If RLC could just get fully fit and put his back problems behind him I think he could become a star player for us. Like Pogba only less of a nob and hopefully less patchy

Not mad for him myself...especially if he's playing with Jorginho

Price depending and if he’s happy to be a squad player I think we should sign him. He’s a good footballer and is versatile and definitely has high potential. If we ever switch to a midfield two in future he will be more suited to there than the midfield three.

Think he's done OK for his 1st season in the prem. Nothing to shout about but not completely useless like Bakayoko was.

I think he has a future here but much rather it was in Jorginho's position than the LCM spot. As you lot have mentioned he can cover all 3 positions if necessary so if Sarri is here next season then yeah I'm fine with keeping Kovacic if it's a decent price.

I suspect he could be part of the Hazard deal as that is looking more likely now.

Hmm, that does surprise me.

Very good player, tidy player, but doesn't offer what Sarri would ideally want in the LCM position. He strikes me as the classic Xavi/Modric type of CM playmaker, someone who'll never be utilized by Sarri properly unless he changes the dynamic of using Jorginho as the linchpin.

If we had a different manager next year I'd be more than happy to see him made permanent/part of the Hazard deal, but for Sarri he'll always be a square peg in a round hole.

Not for me. I don't think he's a poor player, as already mentioned he's just a neat, tidy functional player that lacks that extra something that makes him a danger to the opposition in their half of the pitch.

I'd be totally opposed to him being used in any deal involving Hazard as the parasites from Madrid would just over value him in an effort to get Hazard on the cheap.

Sorry Kova, you're not what we need in my book.

Not for me either. The fact that he's yet to score a goal from a midfield that dominates possession of the ball for most games this season is indicative of what he brings to the table. Tidy player but no end product, style over substance. If reports are true that Sarri wants him then that says more about how Sarri is quite content to have a team with no penetration but can bore everyone to death with sideways and backwards passing.

As Brummie has already alluded to I also don't want the fact that we currently have him on loan to politically cloud the water and him to be offered as an over-priced bargaining chip as a make-weight in any deal involving Hazard. If Madrid want Hazard then they can pay the full asking price for him in cash and not have us solve their transfer problems for them by taking their sloppy seconds. I would expect our board to do what is best for our interests and if us doing that is an inconvenience to Real Madrid then thats just tough shii t.

I have nothing against the player personally I just don't want to watch him again every week next season.

Pretty much mirrors my whole feeling about him 69!