JOSE MOURINHO wants to make Mateo Kovacic his marquee summer signing for Fenerbahce.
And if Mourinho seals a club record £25million deal, Manchester City midfielder Kovacic will follow in his footsteps for an astonishing FOURTH time — yet play under him for the first.
The former Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham boss has asked the board at the Turkish club to push the boat out for Kovacic and wants him to fill the key holding role.
City only signed the 30-year-old Croat a year ago and he is contracted until 2027.
But sources say Etihad chiefs would be open to business if they can recoup the initial £25m that he cost from Chelsea.
Mourinho has wasted no time recruiting new faces since taking over last month, charged with ending Fenerbahce’s ten-year Turkish Super League drought.
He has been linked with Nottingham Forest’s Ibrahim Sangare and Sander Berge of Burnley, having lost out on signing Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg from old club Spurs.
But Kovacic is top of his wanted list, which would finally mean he and Mourinho were on the books at the same time.
Both men have previously been at Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Chelsea — but on each occasion the manager had already left by the time Kovacic arrived.
Mourinho has already broken Fenerbahce’s transfer record once, with the £20m capture of Morocco international forward Youssef En-Nesyri from Seville.
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Former Everton striker Cenk Tosun has joined on a free while ex-Newcastle forward Allan Saint-Maximin is on loan from Al-Ahli.
Meanwhile, Barcelona have made a return bid for City defender Joao Cancelo — they are ready to pay a £7m loan fee and cover his £160,000-a-week wages.
City would prefer to sell him but Barca insist they cannot afford it so City could agree to the deal because there are no other offers on the table.
