Real Madrid’s new signing Mateo Kovacic greeted his new club in Catalan on Wednesday. Florentino Perez, Madrid’s president, was welcoming the Croatian to the Spanish capital in a ceremony at the Bernabeu when Kovacic took the microphone and said: “Bon dia a tots”. (Good day, everyone).
After saying these four words in Catalan — his first as a Madrid player — he spent the rest of the press conference talking in English, only speaking Castellano at the end of the questioning when he said the usual two words: “Hala Madrid.” Therefore, he spoke more Catalan than his native Croatian or Spanish.
It’s probably best, in fact, if the 21- year-old midfielder doesn’t speak for a little while now as some old quotes have also resurfaced. “No, I don’t cook and I never will,” he said to ABC a few years ago. “That’s a woman’s work. My job is to take money home and make life easier for my family.”
Kovacic signed for Los Blancos earlier this week from Inter Milan in a deal worth around 35 million euros. He becomes the second Croatian in Rafa Benitez’s squad, after Luka Modric, and the fifth Croatian to ever represent the club.