Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic is in talks to join Russian side Zenit St. Petersburg at the end of the season, claims The Daily Mail.
Kovacic joined Chelsea on a season-long loan deal from Real Madrid last summer but Maurizio Sarri’s side do not have an option to buy.
The Chelsea manager has already confirmed he wants Kovacic to remain at Chelsea next season but that does not appear to be on the cards for now.
Chelsea may not even be in a position to make that happen due to the fact they have a FIFA-imposed transfer ban looming over the club.
Kovacic does not have a future at Madrid and his representatives have reportedly already started sounding out clubs to join in the summer.
Zenit are on the market for a new central midfielder after selling Leandro Paredes to Paris Saint-Germain in January.
The Argentina international was ironically heavily linked with a move to Chelsea before joining PSG and now Zenit are turning their attention to Kovacic to replace him.
Kovacic has been a relative disappointment for Chelsea this season and has only started 19 league matches, returning a poor WhoScored rating of 6.72 in those appearances.
However, of players to have made at least 25 appearances in the Premier League this season, no player has a better pass success rate than Kovacic (92.3%).
