Chelsea are having second thoughts about signing Mateo Kovacic now that Maurizio Sarri is on the verge of joining Juventus.

The Blues can buy the midfielder on a permanent basis from Real Madrid this summer even if their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over Fifa’s two-window transfer ban fails or isn’t frozen in time.

As Kovacic, who joined Chelsea on a season-long loan from Real Madrid last summer, is already registered with the squad he won’t be considered a new addition if he stays on.

The Croatia international was a regular member of the first team under Sarri, making a total of 51 appearances in all competitions, but regularly failed to impress, ending with a terrible record for the campaign of just two assists and not a single goal to his name.

Despite this, Sarri was keen for the 25-year-old to be part of his plans for next term, but the deal is in doubt now the Italian is heading to Juventus.

Chelsea do have to make allowances for the fact that Ruben Loftus-Cheek is likely to be out for the rest of the year with a ruptured Achilles tendon and that they will try to offload Danny Drinkwater once again following a terrible two-year spell in west London.

But the agent of Tiemoue Bakayoko, who joined Chelsea from Marseille for £40m in 2017, has already claimed the France international is returning to Stamford Bridge from a loan spell at AC Milan and he can potentially fill some of the void.

The west London club will also consider including Mason Mount following his impressive spell at Derby this term.

If Chelsea want to keep Kovacic, they have to finalise it before the end of this month because his registration will return to Real Madrid in July. As Standard Sport revealed on Friday, Chelsea significantly insisted on leaving him out of negotiations with La Liga club over the sale of Eden Hazard.

Inter Milan, where Kovacic played between 2013-15, have become aware of Chelsea’s hesitation and have opened talks with Real to buy him back.

Real Madrid are under pressure to start offloading players having already spent a minimum of £150m on Luka Jovic and Hazard alone.

The Spanish giants have placed a £50m valuation on Kovacic, but they will do well to attract such a fee given the player’s performances.

Chelsea also have the issue of not knowing for sure who Sarri’s replacement will be and whether he’d want the player in his squad.

Sarri is believed to have agreed a two-year deal, with an option for another 12 months, to go to Juventus. He told Chelsea of his desire to quit at a meeting two days after winning the Europa League Final.