Today, we are focusing on future star for Croatian football: Luka Sučić. The 6’1” attacking midfielder plays for the Red Bull Salzburg U-19 team and is arguably their most important player. He is expected to be the next Luka Modrić and was a star in this year’s UEFA Youth Champion’s League, scoring five goals and assisting once in eight games. Sučić is definitely one to keep an eye on moving forward.
God it’s a blessing be a Hrvat
Great genetical makeup
Just imagine if we were of a country 50 million we would be unstoppable in football terms
Whatever the secret is let’s keep it going because soccer is a very difficult game to master because for some reason I always found basketball and the other ball sports much easier to master perhaps with exception of tennis
To say we put football first I don’t accept because nations do it and still suck
That is some high quality video /s
I have better video highlights from my all-state high school years on VHS. One of the cheerleaders used to video us between cheers, she always did a great job.
I love when Croatians get paid:
https://sempreinter.com/2020/04/20/inter-have-zero-intention-of-letting-liverpool-target-brozovic-go-are-working-on-giving-him-new-deal/
Either way Brozovic is getting a raise.
Bog i Hrvati
https://sempreinter.com/2020/04/20/english-report-suggests-liverpool-have-met-with-the-representatives-of-inter-midfielder-marcelo-brozovic/
Klopp is a beast.
He knows he needs intelligence in the middle.
And when you need intelligence in the middle you have to go to the Croatian midfield factory pipeline.
@ Maminjo
Croatians are definitely late bloomers.
But we have had top 16-18 year olds for years.
It’s that 18-24 years, next club, move we keep screwing up.
They have to move to make some money for both themselves and their clubs because our league is financially broke.
Then they get loaned out and have to compete against grown men in less than ideal places for playing time.
Agents/dads seem to be playing checkers.
Haaland goes to Dortmund instead of Man U and immediately keeps his world class form in front of goal going.
Maybe with this pandemic and new economic reality, these kids stay longer in HNL and make modest moves till they solidify their game like Luka Modrić did before going to Spurs.
Rakitic to Schalke from Basel was the choice instead of the big clubs.
Go where they need to develop and play you because of financial reasons.
Also go where you can play your game in a system that suits you.
First team football is a non negotiable between the ages of 18-24.
Our 2018 run was big in solidifying our place as an elite footballing nation.
All these young Croatian footballers can feel they are the best in the world.
Luka “Balon D’or” Modrić is the greatest stereotype lift Croatian athlete of all time.
8 years at Real Madrid let’s all of Croatia know that you have the opportunity to become the best of the best.
You just need to be playing at the “best” club for you from the ages of 18-24.
Then you set yourself up for ages 24-34!
Even screwing up 18-24, many of our boys still made it out.
Because the national team gave them an outlet.
Now the national team however has less opportunity because of the veteran core plus the pandemic delay as well.
So you better get your young man club choice correct!!
@Dannyj
Yea, it’s hard not to be unbaised, but a lot of the guys I listed out are showing some results already.
We have two U21s (Vlašić, Brekalo) making an incredible impact on the senior squad, and a couple others already making transfers to bigger leagues and actually playing first team football at their young age (Bradarić, Palaversa).
Sučić, Marin, and Gvardiol are doing great things at youth level (leading both Salzburg and Dinamo into the quarterfinals of the UEFA Youth League).
I wanted to watch that Dinamo vs Benfica quarterfinal match, so I can get a good look at guys like Marin and Gvardiol.
That win over Bayern in Germany in the previous round is an awesome feat as they were the favorites I believe (didn’t catch the game though).
Would have been amazing to see Dinamo’s U19s win this thing…but it’s likely this gets cancelled. Oh well.
Point is, that we rarely have 20 year olds making a major impact at senior level like Vlasic and Brekalo are doing, and we rarely do well at youth competitions (probably due to the fact that Croats tend to be late bloomers in their careers).
These are all very good signs.
Ante Coric ??
The kid is still the goods.
That Roma move was death as they favor Zaniola.
Now I am thinking the Dinamo move leaving Salzburg was stupid as well?
Seems Red Bull Salzburg has it going on when it comes to selling first team talent to the next level clubs. Why you make the move their so young and don’t see it through?
@ Svima
My background is in basketball player development when it comes to sports.
Why can’t a kid like Luka Sučić grow into playing multiple offensive attacking positions?
Let his natural evolution play out at the next level.
Not to mention playing midfield for Croatia could be the most challenging national team in the world.
Maybe he becomes a striker?
Let’s hope he doesn’t end up like Coric and Halilovic.
I know we usually talk up our prospects
But really does seem we look wealthier then ever for the pipeline
If the world doesn’t end… getting drawn against Croatia will make many countries stay up at night
Bad news for Bilic.
West Brom may not get promoted to the Premier League next season. They’re talking about freezing relegation for a season (if the EPL cannot continue this year).
Bilic’s best seasons are usually his first…but he tends to fizzle out.
Bringing WBA to the Premier League in his first season is a huge success. He would probably bring the to mid-tier, but nothing more…then, eventually leave for a better situation, or get fired after expectations are raised (like at West Ham).
Would be brutal for him if he misses this promotion, then his effect fizzles out and they remain a Championship club for his term.
Everybody wants a tall highly skilled midfielder nowadays, lol
It’s the reason why SMS has a 100M+ Euro valuation.
Sergej Milinković-Savić Is 6’3
6’1’’ attacking Mid fielder? Probably still growing
Seems too tall to me… he won’t be able to be great in today’s game of quickness in the midfield
Unless we’re talking pogma, not seeing too many tall guys in this position
Turns out this game is played with feet in the midfield and being tall is arguably a disadvantage
Our U19s have some very intriguing prospects.
Antonio Marin, Luka Sučić, Joško Gvardiol, Domagoj Bradarić, Ante Palaversa…
these guys are all considered very high end prospects.
These six guys look great already, and some of them are playing for our U21s despite the age gap.
Mind you, our U21 squad still has your high end prospects as well in players like Vlašić, Brekalo, Moro, Ivanušec, Benković, etc.
Most of these guys are wingers and central midfielders, so we are pretty much guaranteed to maintain what we have in terms of two-way capability in the middle of the field and creative attacks from the wing.
We just need to hope for some luck in the backline and goalkeeping.
Very happy to see Joško Gvardiol and Domagoj Bradarić doing well, and hopefully Benković can get into a situation with regular playing time. Also, we do have Boško Šutalo who is a 20 year old 6’2″ CB (who can play some RB) recently transferred to Atalanta. Still got Ćaleta-Car too.
If we can get just get one quality CB pairing our of this pool of guys, then we are set.
We even have some goalkeepers who are playing on Chelsea and Ajax’s U19 teams in Karlo Žiger and Dominik Kotarski. Adrian Šemper starts for Chievo Verona too.
Who knows, maybe we get our Achilles heel fixed and one of these keepers comes through.
The day we get an ‘average’ goalkeeper, is the day we win the World Cup.
Most people pray for a Gianluigi Buffon…I would be happy with David Seaman, lol.
Yes! I love this idea. I was going to post something like this as I didn’t have any creative ideas. I honestly haven’t watch that much of Sucic but his stats tell a lot. 6 goals and 3 assists in 15 appearances in all competitions while playing CM and a bit of CAM.
Lol
=U=
He at least looks pretty deadly with his FKs. Here is a video which showcases his passing range a bit;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=33&v=MpWXJgcRUcM&feature=emb_title
Also, looks like he’s playing in the Austrian 2nd Division with Liefering. Imagine if he ends up being similar to the last tall lefty that left Salzburg