Manchester City should switch their attention to Real Madrid midfielder Mateo Kovacic if their deal for Napoli's Jorginho falls through.

What's the word?

The Premier League champions have been working on trying to get Jorginho to the club for some time, if reports are to be believed.

On Tuesday, Sky Sports reported that City expect to seal the midfielder's signature in a £46.5m deal this week.

As we have seen with Liverpool's pursuit of Lyon's Nabil Fekir, a transfer is not completed unless everyone has signed on the dotted line.

[brid autoplay="true" video="255859" player="12034" title="Watch Man City's opening fixtures for the 201819 Premier League season"]

If that becomes the case for City, then they need to be looking at alternatives, and one should be Madrid's Kovacic.

Why the Croatian?

The 24-year-old, who has earned 42 caps for his country, possesses qualities that can bolster City's midfield even more.

Kovacic is incredibly hard-working and can be vital in both sides of the pitch.

The Croatian is intelligent on the ball and has decent distribution, which frees up the players ahead of him.

If City did turn their attention to Kovacic then they could be in luck with regards to signing him, as Sport cite Cadena Cope radio as claiming that the midfielder's agent has informed Madrid that his client wants to leave this summer.

City should certainly keep an eye on the situation, but if Kovacic is looking for a way out, a handful of clubs are likely to be after his signature.