18 year-old Luka Sučić has become a routine starter for Red Bull Salzburg, starting in all three of their January matches. In those three matches, Salzburg did not concede once and scored a total of eight goals. Although Sučić did not land his name on the scoresheet in the month of January, his solid performances caught the eyes of the Salzburg fanbase – and is now a nominee for the club’s ‘Player of the Month’ award. Sučić has already exceeded expectations, and this is just the beginning for him. Sučić feeds Salzburg’s strikers Modrić-esque through-balls, constantly sparks counter attacks, and has the acceleration of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Sučić‘s best game this season took place last Saturday in Salzburg’s 3-0 victory over Hartberg. The young midfielder completed 28 passes and 100% of his dribbles. In the 71 minutes he played, Sučić also provided three key passes and created one “big chance”.
Italian sources claim that AC Milan and Juventus are keeping a close eye on Sučić. As Sučić continues to impress and solidify his starting position, more large clubs will be on the hunt for the future star. Could Luka Sučić be the next Croatian youngster on the move, following Petar Musa’s transfer to Union Berlin? Anything can happen with how he’s playing.
For now, let’s celebrate an 18 year-old Croatian’s nomination for Salzburg’s ‘Player of the Month’ award. Red Bull currently have a 1-point lead in the Austrian Bundesliga.
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Good for Kovac.
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He still sucked very badly with us, and he’d need 10+ years of success with multiple good teams before I’d ever let him back on our bench.
@ CroatiaU14
With Nevisitic, they formalized the transfer details, but he is still a Rijeka player and will formally move to Dinamo at the end of the season.
ZDS is the reason we still exist as a people.
We need a GK that dominates in the penalty area.
Set pieces have been our Achilles heel.
Love to see Grbic get a chance in March against one of the scrub teams.
I like 194+ agile and hostile.
We can’t produce one of those?
Also be nice for our GK to be a leader and line up the defense with his presence.
Niko has copped a lot o’ shit from the morons on this site, good to see him sticking it up ’em.
How’s West Brom doing without Bilic? Just a rhetorical question. Who gives a rat’s ass? Baggies can eat shit.
Sosa with a MOTM performance today. He’s really been progressing lately.
Antonio Marin on loan at lokomotiva! Thank God, kid was rotting on the bench at Monza. There’s still time for him but if he doesn’t wake up soon he’s gonna be just another failed and overhyped young Croat. I wish him the best and hopefully he can revive his career with the Lokosi.
Niko Kovac’s Monaco just 3 points behind PSG. Tres bien Niko.
You can’t protect bad goalkeeping no matter how good the defence
Why can’t we give grbic a chance
Livakovic is probably our best option right now, and he is pretty good, but I just feel like he can slip-up at any time, and he is not commanding in the box. Maybe he will mature into a confident shot-stopper, but I don’t have full faith in him right now.
I definitely feel like Nevistic is our best bet at a good goalkeeper but he’s what? 22? Unless he’s one of those late bloomers who moves to a big club and does a fantastic job I don’t have much faith in him. Livakovic may just be our best starter for the next little while. This is why I’m glad about all the world class defensive talent coming up the pipes which will definitely aid the weak goalkeeping… Gvardiol, bradaric, pongracic, DCC, vuskovic, Sosa, Colina, pelivan, etc.
Seems like all we have is midfielders and defenders coming up. Any strikers?
@CroatiaU14
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Yea, I hate judging goalkeeping in one sided losing games.
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Ivan If Nevistic did well at the Euros, good for him…but even Kelava looked like a star (saving point blank shots) against Real Madrid when Dinamo was being killed by them in Champions League…and it meant nothing.
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We’ve had a lot of situations like this, where we have some keeper doing very well in a losing effort, but really, we need to see how strong they are when the game is not some target practice shitshow.
Sorry Eric.
Only way we get a decent keeper is if one of our clubs actively pursues some švabo and gives them citizenship.
(Like when Dinamo had Georg Koch in goal)
@Medo
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I read the first sentence of your post, and replied without reading the rest lol.
@Medo
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No he wasn’t.
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Alen Halilovic was a pump and dump.
He was compared to Luka largely because of his short stature and his hairstyle. The Messi thing was to just to draw Barcelona’s attention. Halilovic never played like either player, but he was already a bigger primma donna than Luka could ever be (and his obsession with BiH was another flag).
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Mamic is a master at pumping players and Dinamo is great at assessing talent early.
Whenever Dinamo prematurely sells young players for a relatively low price (like Halilovic, Coric, Simunovic, Jedvaj)…it likely means they probably don’t have what it takes long term.
Understandably, Halilovic was becoming a free agent, so his price was lower…but his appearances on the first team were just a novelty and he never achieved anything at the junior levels either (for club and country).
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Halilovic never had the physical tools. He is great technically, but he is a weak player. Pushed off the ball incredibly easily on offense, and does nothing defensively. Mentally, he might not have had what it takes (and Dinamo would be able to assess this better than any of us).
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The style of play that got us to the World Cup Final involved BOTH our technical ability and our physical ability.
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Sucic is a box-to-box midfielder, who will probably be 6’3″ and offer good aerial ability (on deadball plays), defensive ability, and won’t be easily smothered on offense.
Halilovic was always going to be one of those little winger/CAM hybrids that require a lot of other players around him doing the work. You saw it on the junior teams with him.
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I don’t expect RB Salzburg to be running a Mamic-style shop, where they pump players. They’re boring Austrians.
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Sucic led his club at the World Youth League in scoring, where they lost to Real Madrid in the semifinals. He’s not even a striker, and was (I believe) third overall in scoring in the tournament and was on the team of the tournament too.
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Sure, he may not work out…but the hype around Sucic revolves around RESULTS from the UEFA World Youth League tournament last year, and the fact that he is a contributing member of a Champions League club.
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Other than being a complete ball hog at the U-20 World Cup in 2013…Halilovic did nothing on Dinamo’s junior squad, and was just a showcased novelty player for the senior squad (when they were trying hard to sell him).
There was nothing to justify the hype other than his obvious technical ability.
The best keepers tend to get better with age…but I’m not too optimistic about Livakovic. I’m happy to hear about all those youngsters, but who do we have now, that might step up in the near future. We always seem to be one cycle behind for “in form” goalkeepers. Its one piece of the puzzle the NT is really lacking right now.
Vida ties it !
@Armada
Ahhhhhhh you’re right. My bad.
Question, is he currently on loan at Rijeka from Dinamo?
@ CroatiaU14
Small typo. Nevisitic is not at Dinamo yet. They agreed on the transfer, but Nevistic is staying at Rijeka until end of year.
@Markus
I definitely see your point. None are world class yet, but there’s potential
I feel like out of that batch, Nevistić is the most promising. Although Rijeka lost most of their Europa League matches, he put up some fantastic ratings and was mentioned in the team of the week a few times
@CroatiaU14
The majority of those are all very decent goalkeepers but none stand out to me as world class keepers unless one of them explodes. I honestly don’t have too much faith in our future for goalkeepers, however I hope they prove me wrong.
@Eric SO many
We have Karlo Žiger and Chelsea, Dominik Kotarski at Ajax, Renato Josipović at Dinamo, Dinko Horkaš at Varaždin, and now Ivan Nevistić (now at Dinamo, came from Rijeka).
Our upcoming midfield talent looks promising.
How about some goalkeepers? Any hopefuls?
WOW…what an interesting player, great video!
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Its quite the jump from youth to professional. It’ll take him time to adapt and continue his development. Hopefully he remains focused and mentally strong, a few bad results or any type of bench-warming spells can affect a young player.
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He looks like he’s got some very nice skills and his vision and passing were also brilliant…I hope to see this kid continue this was and hopefully he gets called up for our National team.
Hahahahaha love it @medo
he IS the real deal man. Halilovic was nothing but a clump of skills and speed, Luka Sučić has all the tools in the bad PLUS the attitude. He has high standards for himself, as he’s said in interviews before, and he seems to be on track for a magnificent career.
Of course, he’s still a teenager guys but his composure and talent is outstanding
Hate to burst the Croat hype train but halilovic was an even Bigger prospect than this kid at his age.
Ok I lied I’m aboard that locomotive too. I think he’s going to be the real deal…his size, strength and shot,and ability to see the field making pin-point passes being another strength which Alen never had.
Staying hungry and injury free will be the key for this kid.
@ Soul Champ
Spot on. Would prefer he stays at Salzburg another year, at the very least. Austrian BL is a good league to grow in and he could get some European football in the process.
Classic Croatian technical skills and tactical awareness from Sucic.
He looks like a fluid athlete as well.
Left footed!!
Why go anywhere at 18?
At Red Bull Salzburg he is in the most ideal spot for the next two years.
He needs to start and play and fine tune his game.
At 20 he can make a next move that will ensure that he starts and plays.
A club that has a history of playing young phenoms.
I like Big Joe Šimunić as his youth Coach at HNS.
He can teach him that rugged Aussie style that you need when you want to compete with the best.
Wonder how tall Sučić will become?
Along with Vlašić he looks like a legit #10.
Once again the pipeline providing positions that we have not had since the 90’s.
Another Gooner taking smack?
Petra Martic loses in straight sets to a nobody, man our tennis players are really good at losing lately
Hopefully the RB Salzburg “Player of the month” award isn’t a sympathy award like Kovačić’s “Chelsea Player of the year” award.