Danny Murphy lavished praise on Mateo Kovacic during Manchester City’s FA Cup win over Newcastle United.
The Citizens secured their place in the semi-finals of the FA Cup this evening by beating the Magpies 2-0.
Even though he didn’t get on the scoresheet, one City star found himself on the end of some significant praise from the evening’s co-commentator.
Murphy wowed by ‘beautiful’ Kovacic
Speaking on BBC commentary during the second half of the game against Newcastle, Murphy had this to say about Kovacic.
He said: “He’s a tremendous player, he’s a beautiful footballer, wonderful technician, super experienced.
“Not someone who’s really going to open you up that much in terms of through balls and score goals but in terms of getting up the pitch and receiving the ball under pressure.”
Back in the previous summer transfer window, City paid £30m to sign the Croatian from fellow Premier League side Chelsea.
Since then, the 29-year-old has made 32 appearances for the Manchester club across all competitions, starting 22 of them.
Looking back over the win against Eddie Howe’s side, Kovacic had 149 touches of the ball in total and accurately completed 134 of the 141 passes he attempted, leaving him with a passing accuracy percentage of 95%, the joint-second-highest in the team.
This backs up Murphy’s point about how much of an impressive technician the midfielder is in terms of being able to control the ball and move it around the pitch accurately, despite him not being a regular contributor in terms of delivering goals and assists.
With the Blues having taken a step closer to potentially regaining the FA Cup and with them still being in the race to win the Premier League and Champions League, Kovacic could well have a big part to play in whether or not his new side end up winning another Treble or not.