Gvardiol hints Kovacic friendship may bring him to Chelsea

RB Leipzig’s Josko Gvardiol has spoken out amid rumours of a transfer to Chelsea.

The defender is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after prospects in football, with the Blues arising as a clear candidate in the race for his signature.

Gvardiol had already impressed with his performances in the Bundesliga but is now introducing himself on the world’s biggest stage by representing Croatia at the World Cup in Qatar.

At only 20 years old, he is the first choice to partner Dejan Lovren in the Croatian backline and has kept two clean sheets out of three matches so far. One even came against the highly ranked Belgium, a squad which contains threatening attackers such as Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku.

Joško Gvardiol’s game by numbers vs. Belgium:

95% pass accuracy
76 touches
9 clearances (most)
8 x possession won
6 x possession won def ?
6 passes into final ?
3 duels won
2 tackles made
1 take-on completed
1 chance created
1 clean sheet
0 x dribbled past

20 years old. ? pic.twitter.com/133ct3AZor

— Squawka (@Squawka) December 1, 2022

There was interest for the youngster last summer before Gvardiola stayed with Leipzig for another season, though it looks like he’s set to take his services elsewhere in 2023.

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Gvardiol on Chelsea links

He has addressed the prospect of signing for Chelsea to The Athletic, and said: “My agent is taking care of this and we’ll see. Right now I’m happy in Leipzig. Chelsea are a big club and maybe one day I’ll be there. It’s nice to see things like this, especially because there is [Mateo] Kovacic, so you never know.”