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Chelsea Sign Mateo Kovacic From Real Madrid for £40.3m

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Chelsea FC may not be able to sign any new players for the next two transfer windows, but they were able to get one significant piece of transfer business done today, on this July 1. Midfielder Mateo Kovacic, who spent this past season with the Blues on loan from Real Madrid, now moves to the west London side permanently.

Because he was registered to Chelsea through to June 30, his signing does not violate the FIFA transfer ban that was issued on the club in February. Stamford Bridge will pay Madrid £40.3 million for the rights to Kovacic.

“I really enjoyed my season on loan with Chelsea, I feel comfortable at the club and like London and the Premier League very much. I am very happy to be able to join permanently,” reads a club statement attributed to Kovacic. 

“We had a successful year, winning the Europa League and I hope I can make a big contribution in the coming seasons.”

The statement attributed to Chelsea Director Marina Granovskaia reads:

“Mateo proved what an accomplished player he is during his season on loan with us and we are delighted to welcome him to the club on a permanent basis.

“He already possesses extensive experience at club and international level and we are sure he will be a big success with Chelsea over the next five years.”

In addition to the Kovacic announcement, the club also said their official goodbye to team captain and central defender Gary Cahill.

Wherever Cahill moves on to next, it’s certainly going to be a much better situation in terms of playing time.

To say the skipper was sparingly used under manager Maurizio Sarri this past season would be an epic understatement.

Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No,  I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation. 

You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.