Pre-Season Tour Is Mateo Kovacic’s Chance to Prove He Is Real Madrid’s 12th Man

Real Madrid have set off for pre-season in North America, training at the Montreal Impact’s base in preparation for participation in the International Champions Cup.

Zinedine Zidane’s men face a reduced summer programme, playing just three friendly games—against Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich—before competitive action gets underway with the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla on August 9.

While the main priority of the squad will be enhancing fitness and readiness for the new season, several players need to also show they have the quality to be a regular part of Zidane’s first team during the upcoming 2016-17 season after disappointing last year—with Mateo Kovacic one of the names in that group.

The Croatian must see the pre-season tour as his opportunity to shine, with circumstances handing him a platform to prove he should be ahead of the likes of Isco and James Rodriguez as Zidane’s go-to midfielder when any of first-choice trio Toni Kroos, Luka Modric or Casemiro are unavailable.

Downturn

Last season was without doubt the most disappointing of Kovacic’s recent career history. It started with a surprising move from Inter Milan to the Santiago Bernabeu for around €30 million, but little went right thereafter.

He started only two of Real’s opening 12 La Liga matches, didn’t register a goal or assist until December and was suspended for the start of Zidane’s tenure, having been sent off for a typically reckless challenge in midfield in Rafa Benitez’s final match, the draw at Valencia.

Toward the end of the season, he was far from one of Zidane’s trusted players, only starting one of the last 10 league games even though there was some reasonably heavy rotation going on with the XI as the regular starters were rested for European action.

Kovacic managed the full 90 minutes on just three occasions over the entire season, barely totalling 1,400 minutes across all competitions, and played only 34 minutes in the UEFA Champions League knock-out stages—just two minutes from the 480 available from the quarter-finals onward.

The final nail in the coffin of his 2015-16 campaign was Euro 2016.

Although he …

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