Mateo Kovacic has appeared to hint to the lack of Romelu Lukaku's goals for Chelsea when discussing new signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The Croatian shared a fairly strong relationsip on the pitch with Lukaku during his unsuccessful season at Chelsea last campaign, most notably playing a crucial part in one of Lukaku's goals against Aston Villa.
However, depsite Lukaku's impressive start to life at Chelsea, the Belgian only scored 15 goals in all competitions, half of what he managed at Inter Milan the previous season.
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The forward saw his relationship with Thomas Tuchel break down before being granted a departure on a loan basis this summer, returning to Inter for the season.
Chelsea acted to bring in a replacement before the end of the transfer window, with Aubameyang signing on Deadline Day from Barcelona.
The forward shares a strong relationship with Tuchel and will be hoping to discover his goalscoring form of the past at Stamford Bridge.
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With one training session under his belt, the 33-year-old could make his Chelsea debut away to Kovacic's former club Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League.
Speaking ahead of the match, Kovacic has praised Aubameyang and appeared to make a slight dig towards Lukaku.
When asked about what Aubameyang can bring to Chelsea, Kovacic appears to have compared him to Chelsea's former striker indirectly, stating that they were missing a natural goalscorer last season.
He said: “I can say that it will be a big addition to us.
"He’s a proper striker and goal scorer, which we miss in the last years. We haven’t had a goalscorer that scores 20 or 25 goals a season which you need to obviously win the title.
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"We are looking forward to having him in our squad, he will be a big addition that’s for sure. He’s a proven goalscorer. For him that’s normal to score goals. I hope he will do it here at Chelsea.
“I haven’t seen it yet in training because he trained yesterday with the team. He is a great player as we know.
"He’s scored goals everywhere.
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"We are looking forward to having him in the squad. He will be a big addition to Chelsea.”
Kovacic will be hoping to strike up a bond with the new recruit as Chelsea look to challenge on all fronts this season.
The pair could link-up against Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday night as the Blues start their Champions League campaign.
Topics: Chelsea, Mateo Kovacic, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Romelu Lukaku, Football, Inter Milan
Nick Emms