Former Chelsea star Joe Cole believes Mateo Kovacic provides a different dimension to the game for the Blues which Cesc Fabregas may not be able to deliver. The Croatia international joined the Blues on a season-long loan from Real Madrid last summer and he has since seamlessly settled at the club with 15 appearances across all competitions.

In a report covered by Goal.com, Cole admitted that Kovacic does not offer much in terms of the goalscoring but he is still a different class to Fabregas with his ability to drive forward from the centre of the park, he said: “I think he’s different class. We know he isn’t a prolific goalscorer from midfield but when you watch him closely what he does is he drives with the ball. Straight away that’s unnerving the [opposition] back four because he’s got that ability to just ghost past players. Cesc Fabregas is a great player but what he gives Chelsea on top of what Cesc can’t do is he can drive and take players out of the game from a central midfield position.”

Comparing Fabregas and Kovacic seems unjust, given the former had similar qualities during the early part of his professional career. Nonetheless, Kovacic has the better pace attributes at the present moment than Fabregas and this has been quite evident with the selection policy under Maurizio Sarri this term.

“Fabregas has been a Premier League regular for the Blues over the past four seasons“ but he has not managed to secure a similar role this campaign. N’Golo Kante and Jorginho have been constants “from the starting lineup“. Sarri has gone with one of Kovacic or Ross Barkley for the third midfield slot for the league duties.

As such, the former Arsenal man has managed just three substitute appearances in the Premier League and there remain question marks regarding his Blues future with his existing contract scheduled to expire at the end of the campaign.