Josip Brekalo may be moving back to Dinamo Zagreb come this January transfer window. Per TransferMrkt and @IASucic, the 25 year-old winger could be rejoining his former club. Brekalo left Dinamo in 2016 to join Bundesliga club, Wolfsburg. Since then, he has been loaned out to Stuttgart and Torino before making a permanent move in Italy to Fiorentina this past summer. In only nine Serie A appearances this season, Brekalo has one goal and zero assists to his name. He’s mainly been sitting on the bench for a team that is currently 5th on the Serie A table; only one point behind a Champions League berth.
“As per our sources, @acffiorentina wants to sell Josip Brekalo, while @gnkdinamo is more interested in loan + option to buy. Brekalo wants to rejoin Plavi, but right now @gnkdinamo is willing to spend (only) around €500.000 to make this deal happen. Talks ongoing.”
I would have to say this is a good move for both Brekalo and Dinamo Zagreb. Brekalo needs playing time ANYWHERE and returning to his hometown of Zagreb could be the right move to re-ignite his career. Dinamo needs any kind of firepower that can help Vidović and Petković up top while keeping Hajduk as close as possible during the second half of the season.
Positive: Dalić did include Brekalo in Croatia’s October squad where they lost to Turkey and Wales. Regardless of the poor performances, that proves that Brekalo is still on the radar, even in an emergency role.
I used to have high hopes for Brekalo but its hard to know if he has the mental capacity to be a consistent performer vs a prima donna. A few years ago he had the ability to change the outcome of a game on his own…whether through creating chances or scoring…. and then something drastically changed for him. he went from being a desired player, even declining to stay at Torino where Juric wanted him (kinda arrogant if you ask me) and now to the point where we are discussing his possible return to Dinamo. what does this tell us? I’d say he’s most likely high on himself and he isn’t realistic.
if he goes to Dinamo, I’m not sure he’s grounded enough to understand he’s replaceable and I wonder if he’d think he has his spot guaranteed? Dinamo would be a step backwards for him and he’d be eating a HUGE slice of humble pie…I’m sure that affects him so I’m curious to know how this will play out for him.
i am curious how you can think someone is arrogant because he did not want to play at Torino. You ever watch a Torino match? It is a big empty stadium. The are secondary citizen next to Juventus. Maybe he wanted to play for a club where they are the number one club in the city or wanted more money and found it at another club.
I think some of you view everything with a narrow footballing focus only and do not realize there are other factors at play when picking club and a city.
I guess you just don’t know too much about the game. Brekalo has been dropping in relevance year over year and now he’s no longer wanted at Fiorentina or by Kovac at Wolfsburg.
this comment is baffling to me:
“Maybe he wanted to play for a club where they are the number one club in the city or wanted more money and found it at another club.”
he’s not in a position to pick and choose but I don’t expect a narrow minded guy like you to know that…you’re the typical armchair, casual viewer!
ahh yes, a man you sits and types all day knows what professional soccer players want in life.
He had a good thing going at Torino.
He was still young (at 23) and he didn’t have to stay there forever.
He had a coach who supported him and a club that was committed to playing him.
He f’d that up completely by going back to Wolfsburg in an attempt to get transferred to a bigger club, and nobody came calling (and he wasted his development years nailed to the Wolfsburg bench).
I don’t disagree Maminjo, but possibly, maybe, he will have greater longevity.
Not being difficult here, but if he was practicing with the team and scrimmaging seven days a week, is he developing to a certain degree depending on the training techniques, and the information and knowledge being shared during the practices?
When musicians play in concerts, they demonstrate the skills they develop during intense constant practice, they don’t develop the skills the day of the concert. It would be the cart before the horse logic.
Just being devil’s advocate. Even if he played, does it guarantee he would have been better? Maybe he is playing at his full potential no matter.
As Yogi Barra said: “If you get to a fork in the road, Take It.”
If opportunity is like water, some of us are born as buckets, and other colanders unfortunately.
When we see a new podcast?
I can accept Maminjo as a poster of the year. No way should truth be in the list. I don’t care about whether his calls are accurate or not. His style is too combative and divisive and not what we need.
I think that top 3 list is pretty good. I may add in Ante K just for the comedy of the takes
It’s time for the annual croatiansports.com awards. As always, we must crown our top 3 posters of the year. This year they would have to be some of the usual suspects with a new addition. This years top 3 award goes to 1) Maminjo: who continues to bring a combination of knowledge with a rationale temperment 2) The truth who continues to provoke the crowd with his hard hitting, but often truthful hot takes. He’s the kryptonite of the homer crowd 3) DannyJ as the surprise newcomer who has had a consistent year of solid, reasonable thought. Best in the new year.
Nice choices, I’d put soulchamp up there as well, always pure positive energy
You can vote all you want, but those who control the vote counters control the outcome.
?
Thank you brother for the mention;)
But let “the truth” be told I’ve been around forever shit posting
I’ve learned alot about the footy from you guys.
I’m born and raised on hockey but as any good Croat, soccer is in the blood
I wish I screen shot it back then as I suggested the infamous fund raising campaign for Joe Simunic ZDS nonsense
Anyways, I digress
I actually love “the truths” Commodore 64 predictions;)
The wearing other men’s names on his back and Nick names are classic
Maminjo is the best balance of knowledge and positivity
Soul champ and Slavonac obviously awesome too
HAET Or whoever can go pound sand most days
Turkey or Frenchman too
Cico5000 where art thou?
Iggy and his hold me comments, legendary
Poglavnik was good back in the day
Was it AnteBBB as well a good poster back in the day
Thank you to Ante K for keeping the site going. Amazing work
And Denis of course for being OG brain child
Don’t spell his name with two N’s
Let us all have a great year and great convo and banter
And let us taste euro glory and let king luka retire as king forever!
Much love brothers(no homo;)
New year, new hopes?
After some rest in the winter break, I hope guys like Baturina and Marco P would have recharged their batteries and will rediscover their form during the spring.
Sucic looks to be having a good season (knock on wood), he just needs to continue from where he left off in 2023.
As usual, any good performance from any, and I mean ANY, of the young strikers is always something to cheer about.
Here’s to another successful year for the Vatreni?
Jarni
Boban
Boksic
Would be even faster with today’s training.
They were all thoroughbreds.
When need a shift in how we evaluate talent.
Jarni was super quick and Boksic was quick as well. However, Boban was no speedy Gonzales and to me he always looked on the slow side and something that he was lacking. Yes, you can improve speed with training to a certain extent but in reality, it all comes down to genes. You are either born to be quick or lacking speed. This is apparent with kids from an early age.
The March friendly games are likely against Egypt and New Zealand in UAE, Uruguay is also potentially involved but they haven’t finalized a trip to UAE so its likely the two mentioned already. They prefer ‘weaker’ opponents for more of a team building atmosphere in the Middle East similar to what they had pre-2022 WC
If it is now a speed/finesse game, this is why they are importing Brazilians, to re-make our team.
I say we just stay the slow people of fiery stone and do the best with can with our magnificent genes, and be satisfied with the result, giving cigarette smoking BrozoVIC’s a team to play on.
We always surprise, but never be considered elite. Only mass immigration would resolve this and maybe doubling of the population with a eye toward soccer prowess.
We should continue the goal of being a mid -tiered soccer country, not being external controlled by global corporations.
Family/Family/Freedom with Croatian First government.
Family/”Faith”/Freedom
Is it safe to say you do not like the song by Catherine Wheel– Black Metallic?
Never heard it before but I took a listen. I love the song. The song speaks to freedom and non-conformity does it not? The song seems to be written in a way so as open to interpretation. You may be only going skin deep on the understanding of the song. What does the song mean to you?
#ETTD never fails. Use it in your future endeavors bro.
It’s unfortunate that Boksic seemed to always be injured for main tournaments. Having him and Suker for Euro 96 and WC 98 would have been amazing. That said, the game has changed it is a much quicker football that relies largely on fitness and pace. As brilliant as Suker and Boksic were, I doubt that the same type of player would be as successful in today’s era. Same goes for Prosinecki- you can’t smoke a pack a day, have 5-6 touches per possession, or hold the ball for 5-10 seconds.
Alen Boksic !!
I was showing YouTube highlights of Prosinečki, Boban, Boksic to my kids.
Why in gods green earth are our attacking players better 30+ years ago than today?
Faster – stronger – more technical – bigger leaders and personalities?
Boksic pre injury would run defense into the ground.
Boban was the captain #10 for Milan.
Prosinečki – unparalleled dribble attack skills.
We can’t even replace Mandžukić .. forget about Šuker.
We need an attacking initiative.
Strong players are being rooted out of our development system somehow at some point ?
Marco Pasalic needs to start at RW by default.
I love Modrić and the rest but we don’t need 10 more like them.
We need the next Alan Boksic!!
Another reason we don’t see players slaloming through opponents is the increased use of tactical fouls. As soon as an attacker penetrates the midfield, he his held back or tripped.
Orsic and Brekalo play the same position
So ironically if they both go back to Dinamo – they’ll have the same problem
Competing vs each other for playing time in same position
Silly me I thought he was right sided forward
I wonder if he can reinvent himself as some sort of offensive minded midfielder?
I too had hope in brekalo
But remember orsic was lost in Asia for a while
He is still young enough
Hasn’t reached Croatian maturity yet
We know he does have skill
It’s not like we are hoping that it shows up.
So maybe he needs to mature physically and mentally
And maybe he can become a decent piece for the repka
Good luck young man
We are rooting for you
The great ones seem to be blessed, and have very unique styles, which complement their unique bodies, that work for them, but cannot be replicated.
Ex. Messi has a very long torso, but extra short legs which he seems to use to his advance. He can make severe quick moves to avoid not be pushed off the ball.
I think a lot of players have been influenced by him, ex.(Brekalo, Halilovic), but have not had the same success, because they bodies are less atypical, and therefore they don’t get the same result.
Modric seems to be more proportioned but a small guy with great leg strength. He does not get push off the ball, very easily against bigger players, and does not try to mimic Messi. He is a tactician, and looks to distribute, to set people up in an advantageous way. He has his own style that works for his unique atypical body type.
Persic has very strong legs as well, and seems to use them to his advantage to hold his space.
Guys like Coric, Balic, Halilovic and Brekalo are very weak players (physically) and don’t have good motors.
Some of these guys are a bit too arrogant as well, which can be a positive in some ways, but can hurt you if you don’t feel the need to work on your weaknesses.
Brekalo had a pretty high ceiling considering as he has a lot of creativity, great technical ability, and a rocket of a shot…but he couldn’t overcome his weaknesses.
If Kovac couldn’t get Brekalo to work on his strength and fitness, then nobody will.
Yes, maybe the early money ruins some needed development, and stunts their humility, which stops the growth.
Budimir is a good example of the opposite. He has never been a star, a talent, a gifted player, or whatever you want to call it but has worked his way up at each stage of his career. Even last year when he was in a goal drought, his manager told the press that Budimir, who had lost his starting spot at Osasuna and lost his spot on the repka, would be back better than ever because the guy was putting in his own practice sessions before and after team practice. As a result, he has improved his touch, his dribbling, and his left foot. A lot of these gifted players lack the attitude of needing to improve every step of the way. Those who Dalic keeps on the repka have the better approach.
@TGAD: Thanks for relating this to us, it’s nice when you see players with such a good attitude do well.
Musa goal and assist today
I’ve noticed a transformation of youth players as they get older which I’ve always been curious about
I see a lot of these youth players are constantly attacking off the dribble… step over, sprinting at defenders etc when they are young and first enter the repka
Then over time, they just don’t do it anymore. Think halilovic and brekalo
Do we think the players get slower as they age or have senior football coaches just suffocated their aggressiveness and creativity because of the turnovers such approaches also generate
A lot of these coaches are not smart men. They are former players. If you look at the nba and nfl for example, the trend is toward non sporting nerds being head coaches…soccer still likes to tap into former players who’ve played but never really studied the game and are often in the past with their approach
I feel a bit of the latter when i look at a guy like bustalo who looks totally deprived of confidence now
I think you raise a good point. My own experience of playing has been that a certain approach (high possession passing, immaculate technique, taking only the shots that are guaranteed to score, conserving energy) is generally favored over high-speed, high-intensity, physically demanding, and limitlessly creative football. There is a good reason why that is the case at the pro level (lots of games to play, extremely high level of competition); nevertheless, it takes some of the excitement out of the play and turns football more into a game of strategy. The great thing about feeder leagues like the Argentine one, the Brazilian one, or the HNL is that the play is undisciplined and leaves space for individual brilliance. That’s one reason why all these Croatian players have such a long lull in their careers after they leave the HNL and why so many of them fail to develop long-term success at the top level. They have to adapt their game and then rediscover their native brilliance.
https://streamin.me/v/39b7f5a2
Nice simple assist from Musa.
https://streamin.me/v/e86a4d06
Then a wonderful goal!
https://streamin.me/v/39b7f5a2
Nice simple assist from Musa.
https://streamin.me/v/e86a4d06
Then a wonderful goal.
Like in American football, there are thousands of great college players, but only a select few, get to be considered elite.
In defense of individuals who try to see the best in our potential Croatian candidates moving to a more elite level, I have no issue with that.
We wish all our players the best of luck. No shame in trying to be positive. The Vatreni need to take the field and believe they are the greatest, so it is good to error on the over positive view point.
This is a team sport so chemistry and game plan play a role, as well as sheer talent.
At youth level Brekalo was an outstanding player on the left wing where he was virtually unstoppable. Great dribbler, speed and a good shot on him. Unfortunately, like so many once exposed to senior football he has failed to progress to a higher level and has stagnated. His mistake was also leaving Dinamo at 19 years of age and going to Wolfsburg. He should have stuck around at Dinamo for another couple of years.
Interesting to see that Vatreni will play a friendly against Macedonia on 3 June and against Portugal on 9 June.
I had deemed brekalo as bust-a-lo back in the day. I was scorned but proven right yet again.
I also said how after his arm band stunt , he should be permanently banned from the repka so it was good to see dalic follow the guidance.
I actually thought though that bustalo did have some potential. In his youth with the repka his contribution rate was solid and i thought he could bend the defense with his attacks which croatia struggles to do. And he had a rocket for a leg.
Watching him in the last qualifiers, i saw a player that lost confidence. I haven’t given up hope that he will contribute in the future if he can rebuild himself
Yes truth you did start the bust a lo moniker even though maminjo’s recent bout of amnesia has him boasting that he started it.
Give the guy credit though for not wearing the armband he stood up for his beliefs nothing wrong with that!!
On a clever scale of 1 to 10, “Bust-a-lo” for “Brekalo” is at about a 1.7. I’d claim amnesia too.
you don’t understand sarcasm, do you
I’ve always argued that what’s best for are boys is pitch time. Playing solid minutes at Dinamo or anywhere in Hrvatska is key.
We recently we had the Kova article on winning from the pine, yet the true outcome, has damaged his true potential.
At this age Josip could still be salvageable and hit heights that everyone saw from his youth.
I’m sure he’s made some reasonable cash along the way so this is a win for all sides.
If he reinvents himself into a studd, this will be great for the National side and his personal career as well.
@Dannyj ? agree regarding Orsic and whoever.
Love to see orsic go back to Zagreb as well
Dinamo would become more powerful In Europe and would be a good way to regain form and health with familiarity