Towering at 6 feet 3 inches tall and having just turned 18, Roko Šimić is the next big Croatian striker talent. Working his way up through the Lokomotiva Zagreb youth ranks, Šimić finally got his debut last season and has since competed in 25 matches (starting 15) for the Lokosi. Although he only scored 4 goals, he had many convincing performances and led the line on a very weak Lokomotiva team. Keep in mind, when Erling Haaland was 17, in his debut season for Molde, he scored just 2 goals in 14 matches. Nikica Jelavić has labeled him as a future world-class striker and Šimić has even been praised on multiple occasions for his incredible work ethic, good attitude and insufferable hunger to score.
This year, Šimić was transferred to RB Salzburg for a fee of $4.40 million and has since been playing for their second team in the 2nd Austrian division. Šimić is a strong and dashing striker that has an incredible IQ and always puts himself in optimal positions in order to score. His hard work has obviously been paying off, because he is on fire this season, scoring 5 goals in his last 3 matches. In 10 total matches, he’s scored 7 goals, not to mention the fact that he only played 703 minutes, making it as if he scored 7 goals in 7.8 matches, which is an incredible statistic. He’s also scored a goal in 2 caps for the U21 National Team.
Aside from their size, speed and excellent ability in duels, Haaland and Šimić cover similar ground. They are both smart strikers that know how to analyze their surroundings, react and then place the ball in the back of the net. Below are their respective heatmaps and what can be taken from it is that, if anything, Šimić is even more mobile than Haaland is in attacking spaces. Haaland is very concentrated to the center of the pitch but he is seen drifting to the sides and opening up the play on occasion, however Šimić proves to be way more polyvalent on the left and right wings.
Roko Šimić (18): 7.8 calculated matches played, 7 goals, 0 assists, 1 yellow card
Erling Haaland (18): 6.6 calculated matches played, 5 goals, 1 assist, 1 yellow card
In addition, Šimić is taking the same path as Haaland, going through the Salzburg ranks. Being included in their Champions League squad, Šimić is obviously held in high regard by the Salzburg staff. The only problem is that they are currently extremely stacked with strikers, and until Šeško or Adeyemi are sold, Šimić might have some trouble cracking the first team lineup.
Who do you see as Croatia’s biggest striker talent: Roko Šimić or Marin Ljubičić?
Could you imagine if we had a legit #9 ?
We may reach the finals of the World Cup .. oh wait ..
For decades we have crapped on Mario MANdzukic.
What he does NOT do well.
His presence has not been replaced going on 4 years now.
The pedigree of Roko Šimić is there and the path through RB Salzburg is as smart as it gets.
If he explodes this season then I want to see him in 2022.
We need a real presence up top.
All options should be on the table .. including your “grandmother’s ASS!!”
Seeing FC Sheriff beat Red Star was a call for us to not take them lightly and that’s exactly what Dinamo did. The fact they steamed rolled dinamo, red star, Real Madrid and an average Ukraine team. This might be the next Ajax run
Don’t forget Babina Guzica from Zaton United. Kid is only 13 but obviously the next Messi.
Funny, last time I checked, Roko was 18 and has the stats and work ethic to back up my claim. Not throwing some little kid from the selo at you guys here, this is a professional footballer.
@Markus
Do you think Babina Guzica is a prospect though, or have you not heard of him?
Not sure if you’re joking here but in case you aren’t, “babina guzica” means grandmother’s ass lol, so yeah, he doesn’t exist 😂.
Babina Guzica could do great things for Hajduk, they shouldn’t pass him up. Maybe that is what gets Hajduk to their elusive HNL title.
Roko Šimić is a much bigger prospect than Marin Ljubičić right now because…
– Šimić scores goals
– Šimić actually plays football
Ljubičić is currently on the bench for Hajduk and barely plays because of a slightly older Slovenian player ahead of him.
Let’s face it….the Hajduk bench is a death sentence for a young player.
Hajduk very bad at finding loan deals for their young players to get game time, so it’s not a good situation for Ljubičić right now.
I think so long as Ljubičić sits on the bench and doesn’t play at all, then we can assume that Hajduk will ruin his career unless something happens where he is promoted to the starting eleven and plays regularly. Otherwise, he will end up at NK Bravo in the Slovenian league (or something like that).
Dario did well to ensure that if his son Roko can’t get Croatia’s only good development system (via Dinamo) then to go to the next best thing with Red Bull.
Your comment is nothing but an evil BS. Find out first how many goals Ljubičić scored in the same category and how many he scored as a senior per minutes played. If you have honorable mathers you wouldn’t be naming yourself after a convicted criminal.
Ok.
Ljubičić scored zero goals this year for Hajduk in 216 minutes played.
He scored one goal last year in 236 minutes… And no goals scored in the 23 minutes he played last year on Hajduk’s second team.
My point is not that he’s a bad player.
My point is that he doesn’t play.
He’s played less than half and hour this past month… and why?
Because of some Slovenian kid that Hajduk is trying to develop?
I’m bashing Hajduk because if Ljubičić really is a big talent, then they need to give him regular minutes (even if it’s off the bench).
If they can’t do that, then they need to loan him to a HNL club that will give him first team minutes.
Hajduk’s Swedish coach is not thinking about developing Ljubičić. He’s thinking about saving his own job. If Hajduk wants to still stick with the Swede, and if the Swede can’t find minutes for Ljubičić, then Hajduk needs to partner up with a club that will play him on a loan agreement.
Roko Šimić played 25 games last year for Lokomotiva, and he only scored 3 goals… But it obviously did alot for his development.
Ljubičić is an older player who is already far behind Roko in development experience.
Hajduk needs to make a decision for their top prospects when they’re not in the coach’s plans (and not have him waste a year on the bench not playing).
Yes maybe with all the info you have given but at 18 he should be playing top flight first team if its a superstar although i wish we do have another Šuker boksic Eduardo
But does he though? Modric wasn’t at 18… not every world class player showed signs of it at such a young age. He’s in good hands, RB Salzburg is an amazing development team and he will get his chances. They wouldn’t waste over 4 million on him if they didn’t think he was worth it.
Yeah true Well fingers crossed our golden Generations careers Are slowly coming to an End and its time to rebuild .
Literally just turned into the Lille match
Saw grbic concede a penalty
Almost had it
Don’t know much about the game so far
Hopefully sucic is in
He is, been decent but quiet. Game just started anyway so…
Let’s not hype him too much
But there looks to be a ton of positives
Thanks for the article
Let’s hope by 2026 we are legit again
Lovren killed it today for Zenit. Big 4-0 win for them.
I love him in this role.
That’s where we need for the Repka!
Thanks for the article…great analysis. Hopefully we’ll see him continue to get better and we’ll finally have a world class striker again!
But, I can also do without these “the next…” labels.
Where does “the next messi” play again 😉
Ugh, can we stop it with the ‘next *insert former/current player name*’ tags. I know its convienent for the average fan in terms of making comps, but there have been so many ‘next Boban’, ‘next Boksic’, ‘next Modric’ and ‘next Suker’ comparisons (my personal favorite was ‘the Croatian Henry’ himself, Ante Rukavina) I could spend the rest of my work day putting together a slidedeck on all of them.
On the bright side with Simic, he says all the right things, he’s taking the right path (using a good team with a great development system in a mid-table league as a lauching off point) and he has a dad with a very good head on his shoulders helping him with decisions. Good recipe for success but not going to get my hopes up quite yet. Can imagine a prime Simic and Sucic destroying defenses in the future, but for now I’ll be thankful for world class players like Ante Budimir and Bruno Petkovic for our attacking options.
my personal favourite….Andrija Balic, “THE NEXT PIRLO”!!
Must’ve been strictly about his hair and first name. What a mane on that Balic!
My favourite was the next Riccardo Orsolini for Antonio Marin.