The noise around Mateo Kovacic’s future has been answered, at least for now, and it came with the kind of blunt clarity Manchester City will appreciate. The midfielder has said he will be staying next season, and that the club counts on him. After months of transfer speculation and a season wrecked by injury, that matters.
This is not a glamorous storyline, but it is an important one. City are heading through pre-season in Asia with a schedule that turns up the heat quickly: K-League All Stars on Wednesday, Atletico Madrid in Seoul on Sunday, Arsenal in the Community Shield on August 16, and Bournemouth a week later to start the Premier League season. Squad depth is not a luxury. It is the whole point.
A useful player at the right moment
Kovacic missed most of the previous season after Achilles surgery twice, first in June 2025 and then again in November. That is the kind of injury record that naturally invites questions, especially when transfer speculation starts to swirl. But his message from Hong Kong was simple: he heard from the club that they count on him, and that was enough to remove the question marks.
He put it plainly enough. “He counts on me, and then in the end it’s always on you to show your best, to be in your best shape.” That is the right answer from a player who knows the only way back into City’s core plans is through fitness and output, not reputation. Kovacic also said it was important to hear that the club counts on him and that he did not feel any question marks from them.
The injury issue cannot be ignored
Still, the optimism comes with a very obvious caveat: this is a player coming back from a brutal run of Achilles problems. Kovacic was brutally honest about the physical strain of the Premier League, describing it as the toughest league and saying that every game feels like suffering. He also pointed out that after years at the highest level, the body can eventually tell a player it has had enough.
That is not melodrama. It is the reality of elite football. Kovacic said the rest may have done him good too, allowing him to reset his body and start again. City will certainly hope so, because a fit Kovacic gives them something they can use: control, experience, and midfield depth in a season that will demand plenty of both.
So, yes, the immediate answer is that Kovacic looks set to stay at Manchester City next season. The bigger answer is that this is now on him. The club has signalled trust. The schedule is coming fast. And if he can stay healthy, City may yet get real value out of a midfielder whose quality was never the issue.
