Kovacic leaves pundits purring It didn't take long for Mateo Kovacic to make his mark. The sight of Kovacic making runs beyond Julian Alvarez to get on the end of long passes over the top early on against Yokohama F Marinos, or trying to play the Argentine in, showcased what he can bring to the City attack as he looks to take up some of the burden of replacing Ilkay Gundogan.
Manchester City had only played about 15 minutes of their first friendly with the new recruit but the club's commentary team had already seen enough of him to be impressed.
He was labelled on commentary as a shrewd signing and someone who has all the qualities to make it as a City player, one who seemed as though he had been playing in the team for much longer.
A positive start for a player who will likely have very big shoes to fill in the No.8 roles this season. ALSO READ: Erling Haaland sends reminder with three touches in Man City comeback Cancelo comes back to the party While City were busy winning the Treble last season, Joao Cancelo was exiled to Munich after falling out with Guardiola to such an extent that he was shipped out on loan for the second half of the campaign.