Juventus join the queue for Real Madrid's Mateo Kovacic

Mateo Kovacic is considering his future at Real Madrid and has reportedly made an approach to Juventus. According to Calciomercato, during the Champions League final, when Kovacic did not even make the bench, the midfielder’s representatives sounded out the Old Lady’s directors and the informal meeting was communicated to Juve president Massimiliano Allegri, who gave the green light for the operation.

Juventus are not the only club interested in taking Kovacic back to Serie A. AC Milan have apparently also been in touch with the Bernabéu about the possibility of signing the Croatian. According to SportMediaset, Adriano Galliani was present at the Champions League semi-final between Real and Manchester City and made a discreet inquiry about Kovacic’s availability. Kovacic also seems keen on a move, stating recently: “It’s been a difficult season. I was sorry to leave Inter, but Real are a great team. I was very young when I arrived but I’ve picked up a lot of experience. I’m fine, I played a lot of games, I expected to have difficulties. Milan? Anything can happen in life, but I’m not thinking about that at the moment. The Euros are coming up and I’ve got five years left on my contract.”

Kovacic’s season ended in bittersweet fashion. The Champions League title is the greatest achievement of the 22-year-old’s career to date, but he was left out of the squad for the final. Bought at the behest of Rafa Benítez from Inter Milan for 30 million euros last summer, Kovacic only managed 1,414 minutes in 2015-16 and practically disappeared from view under Zinedine Zidane. Now it seems the midfielder is mulling a move back to Italy just a year after leaving Serie A.