My view is that Kovacic is the best signing of the close-season so far. The issue is that we have lost Gundogan, so there is no benefit, though I think Kovacic will surprise many.
One other thing to realise is that all of the teams that people are fretting about are a long way adrift of us. it could definitely also be argued that some of our players will continue to improve - Alvarez, Haaland, Akanji, Lewis, Phil and Jack, to name a few. We have exciting youth coming into the first team squad in Bobb and McAtee, and we may sign the best young centre-back in world football. It is never nice to see rivals signing good players, but we can surely handle two weeks of peace after the season we have just had.