‘As a midfield player it’s your worst nightmare having a player who can play and then drive by you out of nowhere,’ commented Frank Lampard after Kovacic’s virtuoso performance at Watford a couple of weeks ago.

Indeed, the Croatian ranks second in the league for what Opta call ‘ball carries’: a player moving the ball five metres or more. He is, quite simply, one of the best midfielders in the Premier League right now.

‘My game is to open spaces for other people,’ Kovacic tells us.

‘It’s a big strength and I have felt I am trying it a lot more because we play a little bit different football to last year. Now we are more direct, more aggressive, we just try things we didn’t try last year. I feel better.

‘I think my best position is in a midfield two,’ he adds.

‘I can play as well in a midfield three, but in the two I feel maybe more comfortable with more freedom. But in the end the formation doesn’t matter too much.’

At Inter Milan and Real Madrid, Kovacic was shuffled around in midfield, sometimes in the hole, sometimes a deep-lying playmaker, occasionally a box-to-box no.8. At Chelsea, it seems he has found his spot in the team, whether in a central two or a three.

‘Of course it’s better to have consistency in your position. To move around the pitch is not so good, when you’re playing one year there, and another year there.

‘That has also been a bit of a problem in my career. Everything happened too fast for me. I had three great and difficult years in Madrid. I played, didn’t play, I didn’t get the continuity that I needed and what I have now here. I enjoyed it, we won three Champions Leagues, but Chelsea is coming in the best moment of my career. It has been the most important switch for now and I’m really pleased with that.’