Chelsea have beaten Manchester United to secure the services of the Real ace who will spend the season at Stamford Bridge.
Kovacic, 24, will arrive in London this morning ahead of his physical examination, and could even be announced as a Blues player by the end of the day.
It comes with Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois moving in the opposite direction for a reported £38million.
While the two deals are not officially linked, it's understood Chelsea's agreement to sell Real Madrid the Belgian goalkeeper has smoothed the path to bringing Kovacic in the opposite direction.
Boss Maurizio Sarri has targeted the Croatian international as he starts to overhaul the squad he inherited from Antone Conte.
Chelsea face a busy two days before the transfer window closes as they look to wrap up the signing of Kovacic and world record goalkeeper Kepa from Athletic Bilbao.
Kovacic will make the move to Stamford Bridge after telling Real he wanted to leave for the chance of regular first team football.
He found his chances limited because of the form and fitness of Toni Kroos and Luka Modric – leaving him with little option but to look elsewhere even though Real boss Julen Lopetegui wanted him to stay.
Lopetegui said: "It is true that Mateo has expressed his desire to leave.
"I have expressed my desire to stay. If it comes out we'll see how we mould it."
Sarri targeted the midfielder after highlighting midfield as one area he needed to improve on his arrival at the club.
He immediately splashed out £57.4million to bring his Napoli player Jorginho to the club, and decided after the club's pre-season that he needed a further addition.
Heading out of the club is likely to be Tiemoue Bakayoko, who is in talks over a a season long loan move to AC Milan.
The French midfielder has failed to impress since his £40m move from Monaco last season and was not even on the bench for the Community Shield defeat to Manchester City on Sunday.
Sign up for Dream Team 2018/19 now
- Dream Team is back and better than ever ahead of the new Premier League season
- Completely free to play
- £400k jackpot up for grabs across the season
- REGISTER FOR DREAM TEAM 2018/19 HERE
Source: Read Full Article