One of the wildest seasons in HNL history just got even more hectic.
Amid a tight race at the top of the table, 25-year-old Josip Brekalo has agreed to join Hajduk Split for the remainder of the 2023-24 season on loan from Fiorentina in Serie A. The speedy winger was present at Hajduk’s previous match at Poljud, alongside fellow signee Ivan Perišić. Brekalo’s move to Hajduk is a stunning twist in a long series of events, including reports suggesting that he had already signed with Dinamo just a few days prior.
While a midseason switch to his boyhood club seemed inevitable for some time, the forward had other ideas. Rather than saving Dinamo’s trophy streak, Brekalo might just be the guy to take their glory away.
Not too long ago, Brekalo was one of Croatia’s top talents across Europe. The youngster found early success in the Bundesliga with Stuttgart and Wolfsburg, receiving looks from some of the biggest clubs in the world. Brekalo saw the field a lot for the Vatreni at a young age, scoring four goals in 35 total appearances. With hype circulating Nikola Vlašić as well, the future of Croatia’s attack was looking very bright.
Brekalo spent a season on loan with Torino, where he scored seven goals for the Italian club. Despite his moderate production, he was sent to Fiorentina where he only found the back of the net once in 17 appearances. With a future in Europe’s top-5 leagues in question, Brekalo found himself right back in Croatia, this time with the rivals of his academy club.
While Dinamo Zagreb barely escaped Istra on the road on Saturday to stay in close contention, Hajduk fell 2-1 to Rijeka at Poljud the following day. Hajduk looked to be in full control during the first half after an early goal from the American Rokas Pukstas, but were smothered by Rijeka in the following 45, conceding to Jorge Obregon and Lindon Selahi. Hajduk’s schedule hardly gets any easier, with a critical away clash against Osijek up next. Rijeka are set to host Istra in their next match, while Dinamo welcomes Gorica at Maksimir on Sunday.
Hajduk and Rijeka and currently tied for first place in the HNL table with 41 points, followed by Dinamo with 37 (and two games in hand). Will this be the season that Hajduk finally lifts the Croatian First League trophy, will Rijeka find glory for the first time since 2017, or will Dinamo break through to win their seventh straight?
Any chance that these acquisitions disrupt the locker room? There will be one starter immediately relegated to the bench with a second one knowing he is keeping the left wing position warm for Perisic.
Most likely. It ruins the ability of some, no doubt, who planned on enjoying being a big fish in a small pond with no competition. If these old past their prime, and potential stars, the never shone in the sky as planned, can start producing, Hajduk will be in the mix, and put pressure on others to produce maybe?
Might be a good thing?
Astute point.
Going to be interesting with Perisic, and now Brekalo.
No it will not. Brekalo is at hajduk until the end of May and then he is gone. Perisic wont be ready until May, if he is lucky. Even if Perisic does make it back for games before that Brekalo can play on the right side when Perisic is subbed in.
With Rakitic now going to Saudi Arabia his wife may let him play for Hrvatska again. Dalic should invite him for the friendlies.
Nice! They always say the quality goes down at that point though.
Rakitić is still a world-class player, maybe even better than ever. He was playing as if he already graduated from La Liga earlier this season, making the other players on the field look like novices. He moves the ball around like no one else. He can hit a target at pretty much any distance and angle with his long balls.
Yeah,, anyone else notice his hair is darker and thicker? I dunno man, dude has coin I know, but man that looks like plugs to me.
I think it’s just a hairstyle change.
He’s always had thick hair, but he always had a big forehead with a high/bad hairline which looks worse when you’re trying to grow it long and slick it back (like he was doing during his Barcelona years).
To have any chance of going to EURO fringe players like Brekalo need to be playing regularly at club level, hence his return to HNL. If he impresses at Hajduk there is a possibility that Dalic will call him up for the friendly matches in March against Tunis and Egypt or NZ ?
Brekalo is sneaky.
He knows that the best way to restart your career is to be showcased by your National Team.
Going to Hajduk guarantees him a spot on the National Team since he knows that Dalic likes to maintain a Hajduk quota.
He pretty much guaranteed himself a spot on the Euro2024 squad with this move.
we don’t know enough about Brekalo. all we ever talked about was how he refused to wear a rainbow in support of gays and lesbians. the guy was on the right track when he 22 and 23 years old and then it looked like he started taking some shortcuts defensively, causing the negative spotlight to be put on him. he then began to string together many games in a row without goals and assists, his creativity lacked, he stopped taking on players 1v1 and I feel he’s never pushed himself to get back to being that game changing, tricky little outside attacker he once was. He’s not been consistent enough to start floating and providing useless minutes to his team, he is expected to perform every game and from what I’ve seen, he plays sideways and backwards. He’s rarely the game changing player we all knew him as. maybe this league can bring the best out of him but that certainly would mean that he’s a better option than someone like Sahiti or Dajaku.
apparently Perisic will be ready in April, which is a very fast return considering the type of injury he has…but Perisic isn’t human so if anyone can do it, he can!
this deal doesn’t bother me in the sense that a Dinamo player is going to Hajduk…I could care less about Brekalo. he’s looking after himself, trying to rejuvenate his career. I guess I’m more annoyed with the “smoke in mirrors” regarding his return to the HNL as somewhat of an impressive return and “he chose” Hajduk. I was praying to God that the deal with Dinamo wouldn’t work and the Gods of futbal heard my prayers and then somehow…there were a few wires crossed and BOOM, Hajduk pulled off what might be the biggest shit show in years…or…a very flukey 6 month loan. Lets be realistic, I have been openly TOTALLY AGAINST BREKALO AND VLASIC because they both really have been poor for the past couple of years. I would love for both of them to be fantastic but thats not the case….so why are we blowing smoke up anyones ass and pretending those two are “good” options when we know they aren’t…and the media are manipulating people to believe that Brekalo is some sort of prize while both Wolfsburg and Fiorentina told him “he can leave”…nobody tells you “you can leave” unless they hope you leave.
personally, I want guys with a fighting for their spot mentality, not someone thats floating from team to team every new season!
….latest news is saying that Brekalo wanted guarantees while Jakirovic agreed but he also stated that the guarantees would be tied to performances (how well he played) and then Brekalo backed away…he didn’t want to be held accountable and he called the compensation “insufficient”…and the next day signed for less at Hajduk!
Basically Brekalo wants a guarantee for his past performances and won’t tie them to his current performances. he didn’t like the fact that Jakirovic wouldn’t guarantee him playing time for free.
Jakirović was right not to guarantee him anything. He has Baturina, Špikić, Vidović, Antonio Marin… There are other talented young guys in the mix, so Brekalo would have to prove his seniority as a player, which he might not be able to do.
I’m pretty sure Dinamo gave up on Marin and he’s now gone.
There’s something fishy about this whole situation. Either Dinamo screwed up royally, or Brekalo really is “sneaky”, like Maminjo suggests. I can’t remember fuck-ups like this happening when Mamic was in charge. Dinamo need to get their act together….sramota.
Also, congrats to Hajduk. They pulled off 2 huge signings in a few days. This could prove to tip the scales in their favor.
while this may be true about mamic, he also stole from the very same club that he claims to love. I would also love the same club that did nothing why stealing from it. All that money he paid to bribe judges and keep for himself, his brother and his son could have been helpful to dinamo right now.
“while this may be true about mamic, he also stole from the very same club that he claims to love”
to this very day, Dinamo have never once claimed there was a single dollar stolen by Mamic but you can keep on rambling.
also, with regards to your other stupid comment:
“I do not know what some of you do professionally or what your CV shows you to have done, but i based on some of responses I hope you are not in negotiating contract terms for yourself. Asking for guarantees for an employer or if you are a contractor is very normal. Football is a business”
hey dummy, you can ask to get your balls sucked before every game by Nives Celzijus, doesn’t mean it’ll happen.
Once Jakirovic made it clear that Brekalo needed to fight for playing time, Brekalo tubed the deal and went to Hajduk for less.
you are either stupid or just prefer to ignore things or you are troll. My guess is you don’t follow croatian news or you don’t understand croatian langugae enough to follow closely. My english is not good, but it is better than your croatian as i understand english enough.
do you think mamic didnt steal from dinamo?
dinamo filed paperwork less than 2 months ago with the croatian courts trying to get back a minimum of 20 million Euros from Mamic. Not only asking money back from Mamic, but his brother, his son and three other former dinamo board members. and that may increase.
but please go on telling us who know what is going on in croatia what we dont know because an old man (Nives Celzijus is what comes to your mind) yells at his phone.
My God you are an idiot. Get some help moron.
the court cases against Mamic were not from Dinamo, if you don’t know that then you should burn the books you learned from. I’m not sure about anything recent, but I do know the cases he went to court for was all politically motivated and lots of corrupt judges involved…I believe some went to jail for corruption.
Croatia is corrupt from top to bottom, you should know that. Nas Hajduk is one of the most corrupt organizations in Croatia, nobody says shit about them because their club hasn’t won anything but make no mistake…they are scum and corrupt as the worst. Tons of politicians are corrupt in Croatia, becoming incredibly rich and owning properties everywhere….you know fuck all if all you do is point to Mamic! He’s one of thousands and thousands…not one of all!
Again, you don know what you write but please continue to make idiot of yourself. Dinamo filed paperwork in court to begin the process of having 20 million plus euros returned to them. This has nothing to do with the court cases in Osijek.
What i have learned over the years dealing with ignorant hrvati is their go to move when something they dont understand or something they dont like is to claim corruption. Yes, plenty of corruption in hrvatska. The problem is that you appear to defend clear corruption.
I’m no hajduk fan, but Nas Hajduk is corrupt how or how in a big way? they have no money. would like to know what there corruption is. you appear to have more of an issue with something so small like Nas Hajduk than you do with a man who stole from our own club (i assume you are also dinamo fan like me). Plus, majority of dinamo want there own version of nas hajduk one day.
listen loser….i point to mamic because this is sports website. if you want we can discuss corrupt politics. plenty of space for that but i need you to understand language more.
I am wrong to call you a loser. I do not know you at all, so i can not make judgement if you loser or not
I do not know what some of you do professionally or what your CV shows you to have done, but i based on some of responses I hope you are not in negotiating contract terms for yourself. Asking for guarantees for an employer or if you are a contractor is very normal. Football is a business. Brekalo and his agent were smart to ask for guarantees. dinamo has every right to also say no to the requests.
I don’t care what mamic did. He was the absolute god of spotting talent for dinamo and the national team.. aside from perisic what kind of contribution has Hajduk made to the national team (perisic never played a game at the sr level either). Hajduk is a joke, the best player they’ve got right now hates the national team and is an anti patriot. Hajduk fans better hope that vuskovic is the real deal so they can finally claim they have pitched into national success in recent times
Davor is correct, I also read and heard that Dinamo is now seeking 20 million from Mamic that he stole from the club.
Not sure how they will get the money back? considering that the crook is living in Hercegovina and has no intention of coming back to Croatia.
Dinamo might be seeking money from Mamic now…I did say this is probably something new and I was referring to the fact that Dinamo did not sue Mamic in the past. all that was political. those that were judging ended up in jail for bribes…its a very intricate and corrupt system.
if they are suing Mamic now, you gotta ask yourself why now? there’s soo many issues with Dinamo’s uprava, every week there’s another war so why now?
Good way for you to cover yourself after posting wrong information.
yes, judges were bribed. They were bribed by mamic.
Why now? This is easy. If you dinamo fan then you know there are less people inside of dinamo who are loyal to mamic. they have people in power today who want the club to get back money belonging to the club. In last month we have listened to kranjcar say his signature was faked. allowing mamic to pull cash from the club. then we heard modric’s punica look like idiot on witness stand as she could not explain why her signature was on documents allowing mamic to take out cash.
So what was the reason he went to hajduk instead?
Is it official that all Croatian wingers are in the hnl?
Jakirovic would have to be paid out 500,000 Euros if he gets fired so the talk around Dinamo was is they fired Jakirovic, they wouldn’t have money to pay the loan for Brekalo. The deal fell through and then Hajduk came calling and Brekalo panicked because nobody wants him so he took less money. Apparently he was really upset that Dinamo pulled out of the deal!
Here’s the thing. Brekalo has drastically dropped in quality. It kinda feels like he’s completely lost his way. Here’s the strange thing. Juric wanted him at Torino but he was poor there and opted to leave. He then went to Wolfsburg with Niko Kovac as his coach and he’s basically told he could leave…he was pretty terrible. He then goes to Fiorentina and rarely played and then he scored his first goal in over a year and Dalic called him up…but the guy is in total shit form and completely screws up with our National team. Fiorentina end up telling Brekalo to pound sand and find a team and he can’t find one…his value dropped soo much that even Greek teams were questioning him and wouldn’t commit.
Could he do well in HNL? Probably yes but I’m gonna be sincere and say I’m so damn glad he didn’t sign with Dinamo, I would have most likely thrown my box out the window and started watching curling. I don’t think the guy is done as a player…he can turn things around. I just think his desperation made him do a bonehead move.
“Speedy” is definitely not a word I would use to describe Brekalo😂
Here’s a nice write-up on everyone’s favourite whipping boy.
https://www.manchestercity.news/opinion-150000-a-week-player-kovacic-actually-played-the-best-he-ever-has-at-manchester-city-against-tottenham/
Nice to hear
Curious what happens if Hajduk finish 3rd this season?
I don’t know but I doubt that Hajduk would fall apart, their fans are too crazy and delulu about their club. I do even think that the biggest handicap of Hajduk are not the players, the coaches nor the management but much rather their fans. You see they switched everything and everyone in the last 15 years and never achieved the sucess they strived for, but during that time Hajduk never “shot” against their own fans as far I know… no instead they hype them up and even pay their fans destructive behaviour (f.e. when their ultras destroy stadiums seats or throw pyro the Club Hajduk always steps up for them and pays the fines…)