After a few days of speculation, it’s official: Dinamo Zagreb’s utility specialist Bartol Franjić is joining Niko Kovač and Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga!
Franjić, 22 years of age, can play every position in the defensive and middle third, excelling at each spot. He was a key piece to Dinamo’s European success in the 2020-21 season, and played 81 minutes in the club’s historic 3-0 victory over Tottenham in Zagreb. Franjić is also the current captain of Croatia’s U-21 squad and has 10 appearances for the team, scoring once. A couple solid months in Germany could book him a ticket to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, over fringe players such as Kristijan Jakić or Luka Ivanušec.
Franjić earned himself a five-year contract under Wolfsburg, who finished 12th placed in the Bundesliga last season. Dinamo have received 7.5 million Euros in return for the player, which may be used to sign another star attacker this summer.
Josip Juranović could be on his way to one of Europe’s greatest clubs. Atletico Madrid are reportedly very interested in signing the 26 year-old right-back after his fantastic display against France in the Nations League. Several Premier League sides are rumored to be eyeing Juranović as well.
However, Celtic see Juranović as a key player and are unwilling to let him go for a low price. Many sources believe that the club won’t sell him for any price less than 15 million Euros.
The tweet below sums up how most Celtic supporters feel about the potential transfer of Juranović…
Who would have thought Slovenia would be dominating the cycling field with Roglic, and Pogacar being #1&2, in the world as well, stunning.
Yea they are pretty good in sports…but still not as good as us.
On a per capita basis, we’re still the best in the region.
Wow dude, take a breath, I think your on the wrong website 😳
Petra Martic into the round of 16.
https://youtu.be/8RUdv1dLxqI
It’s like we are in bizarro world with Slovenia toying with us.
Dončić is the new Petrović.
There was a time when we missed the South African World Cup in 2010 when I feared this would happen to our beloved Vatreni.
But Luka Modrić lead us back to the promise land and beyond.
Dončić and Dragić are what the standard is.
Why we cannot get even close to producing that level of lead guard is baffling?
Hezonja left Barca early and did not develop his point guard ball handling. He relied on his athleticism.
He also should have came to Kentucky to see what real defense is and see how sharp your skills need to be to play in the NBA.
Luka Modrić is our point guard on the football pitch. This is why we win. Rakitic was a second point guard during our run in 2018.
HKS needs to call Rudy Tomjanovic and have him create a program from the ground up.
Operation Dražen Petrović.
We will always have some bigs and shooters, that’s east to train.
But the game more than ever needs transcendent lead guards.
192 – 196 cm – ballers !!
Would Croatians support a line if athletic wear where 100 percent of profits would support underprivileged youth needing help and support local basketball organizations. Croatian basketball centers for instance. Perhaps call the line “Petro”. Honest opinions and suggestions please.
Unfortunately, the economy is going through a recession, so most people will probably be tighter with their wallets with these sort of things.
It also doesn’t help that the whole “privilege” thing has been politicized, and people are now more cynical about what it means to be underprivileged (especially when you are asking money from people who actually lived through a war in the 90s).
You’re going to have to be very clear about where the money is going, and how it is going to be spent.
Creating a new athletic line is already difficult enough.
I would try looking into importing (or re-creating) some classic Croatian t-shirts and sports kits that are impossible to find.
An example would be those classic 1992 Croatian Basketball jerseys. You can’t buy those anywhere, but they are our best basketball jerseys ever.
I don’t think these exist anywhere anymore, but you could probably re-create them and get replicas made.
Other jerseys that were cool are those yellow and black KK Split jerseys or those orange Sibenka jerseys (where Petrovic first played). A retro KK Zadar jersey (with Kresimir Cosic’s name on the back) would be cool too.
You could also create some cool t-shirts of random Croatian clubs like NK Dragovoljac.
The only sports gear that I see in these Croatian centres are the same old Hajduk or Dinamo t-shirts (no other teams) and the awful, awful Croatian national team replica kits.
Setting up shop in these centers with cool Croatian basketball and football kits (especially retro ones from the past) would be great.
Just don’t fuck up and go “too retro” with a red star Hajduk logo, ha ha.
Why no love for our hoops brigade trying to qualify for the 2023 World Cup?
Oh their 1-4 qualifying record might have something to do with it.
Drazen must be rolling in his grave!
Some people say the kits are gross
I think the are solid
Better then this batch of black ones
Would they go with the navy or lighter blue for the away?
I think they are both nice to be honest
We will once again have one of the nicer uniforms. But im all homer glasses on this one
But really who is more recognizable then us now in a crowd? Orange Netherlands?
Uruguay has the most recognized kits around. Sharp as hell.
Sorry, no disrespect intended…but as a football fan, I have no idea what Uruguay kits look like. I know they’re usually similar to Argentina, but how are they the most recognized?? Our kits along with Netherlands, are definitely the most distinct/ recognized in the world.
I think this guy is from Uruguay.
I believe that (in another thread here) he brought up Uruguay as being a more successful sporting nation based off their population per capita size…which is absolutely ridiculous.
The only sport Uruguay is good at is football, and their first two World Cup wins (back in the 1930s) were a small invitational tournament with no qualifiers. Nothing before 1970 should really count.
I like Uruguay’s kits, but there’s no way in hell that they are the most recognized kits around.
Lots of fairweather sports fans even know what the Croatian kit looks like when you ask them. These same fairweather fans think that Uruguay’s are Argentina, lol.
Love their black shorts and light blue tops, but in terms of “most recognized” they don’t even make the top-10.
@eric. They are the most recognizable. I’m just saying they are both so, so good.
https://www.intothecalderon.com/2022/6/22/23177659/sime-vrsaljko-refuse-atletico-madrid-contract-olympiacos-laliga-transfer-news-rumors-kieran-trippier
Probably a solid move for Šime to get his career back on track.
Greek league is a big downgrade.
This ends any chance of him playing ahead of Juranović or Stanišić.
Obviously, but he could play a lot there, both domestically and in Europe. If he can stay healthy, he’s still a useful bench/injury type guy. You can never have enough depth.
I really like vrsaljko. When you get to the later years of your career you are already as good as you can ever be. Playing in the greek league for 6 months won’t diminish his quality at all. In my opinion he is still marginally better than stanisic or juranovic as long as he is fully fit and confident. I liked what I saw from stanisic against france and juranovic is underrated by everyone except celtic fans…but they are still both slightly flaky. I prefer to have the aggression and attitude of vrsaljko..again…if fully fit. Especially given that our best players in defence are all very young. Gvardiol, sosa, erlic, sutalo, stanisic…big talents. Little experience. They need vrsaljko there. IF FIT
Never forget roger milla! Retired and relaxing on the beach age 38 (probably more). Turns up and destroys everyone. Quality is quality. Sometimes taking the pressure off club commitments can allow 1 month of pure, focused genius. Let vrsaljko play and let dalic decide who is ready come November
I would prefer vrsaljko to be the veteran presence on the back line over vida and lovren
We know they have experience but we need to play the young studs
It’s not like lovren won’t cause a pk anyway. May as well let a kid get experience
This Back line in the next couple of tourneys may help lead us to another magical run
And I agree. Vrsaljko for the amount of injuries he gets comes back to fitness quick enough
Let him get his confidence and crossing back
When it comes time to step up I Think he still can
Like you said that bit of aggression is what you need on defence for the extra gear
Him and Perisic are the guys most likely to step up for the others on the field if needed
We can’t be pushed around out there
Definitely. Love to see that aggression and pride
Agree! Vrsaljko brings attitude!
He’s got a champions mentality. You gotta have some audacity if you want to win it all and Vrsaljko has it in spades. The young boys could learn a lot from him.
The guy continued playing a game with a broken jaw this last season and was playing on a blown out knee in the WC.
Talk about an old school hard headed Hrvat💪!
Bog i Hrvati
I agree.
https://twitter.com/concept_kits_/status/1542246358605774849?s=21&t=2dPbDe6A7AO4oWyhnELZYA
I know that these are just concept kits, but they are probably close to what they will look like.
The white home kits (having a semi circle border where the checkers meet the solid white shoulders) aligns with the new Nike designs for their club team kits next season. Our home kits will probably do the same.
Also, the Dark Blue and Red away kits look cool… and I believe Nike already released the color schemes for our away kits…and they’re supposed to be dark blue and red.
Would be cool if they looked like these.
Zubac extends with the Clippers for a measly $11 million per season, extending our streak of free agent Croats signing lowball offers from their clubs, ha ha.
Cheap
LOL! What ?? He’s a career 8pts 6reb guy LOL! He’s a 7ft C who doesn’t even average 1 block a game. Please stop.
He averages 10.3 points and 8.5 rebounds in only 24 mpg on very high efficiency. Plus he’s only 25 years old and is getting better every year.
Traditional big men may not be needed to play as much as they did in the 90s, but every team in the league is looking for one to match up with all of the MVP bigs like Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic and Giannis.
Zubac can defend those guys.
Guys like Steven Adams and Jonas Valanciunas are being paid over $18 million per season. Zubac is younger and a better defender (with more upside).
Many teams have been desperate for the past several years to trade or sign big men.
Multiple teams are offering free agent DeAndre Ayton max money, so he will now be signed and traded. Detroit is one of them, despite recently drafting a big man.
Raptors just drafted a 7-footer too, but are still trying to trade for Rudy Gobert anyway. Charlotte drafted one last year, and are still involved in every big man trade. Orlando’s Mo Bamba is a total bum of a player, but will probably get solid money from the Bulls (since Vucevic cannot defend the paint).
Even though these guys will probably only be needed for certain matchups and will average under 30mpg, they still attract quite a bit of money (if they can legitimately defend well in the paint).
Zubac does that, and he’s young. He likely extended for cheap because he wants to stay in LA. But this is a mistake, because he can always be traded away.
On top of this, the salary cap will be expanding because of the new TV deal. So, the average NBA salary will jump up by a lot. Lots of teams will have capspace when he was scheduled to become a free agent. He took way too big of a paycut.
…and just like that, The Timberwolves threw everything plus the kitchen sink in order to get Rudy Gobert.
Insane trade…but it shows how important it is to have a true big on the roster.
Croatia beat Serbia 14-12 and will now advance to the Waterpolo World Championship semi-finals on Friday against the winner of Montenegro- Spain.
Games are televised on HRT2
Croatia slaying the Serbia dragon
HNL is called super sport hnl now apparently??
Super duper mondays on here wiry the hnl reports!
It was officially called “Hrvatski Telekom Prva Liga”, and now with the sponsor change, it will be “Super Sport Hrvatska Nogometna Liga” or “SuperSport HNL” . I’m not sure why they removed the “prva liga” part? I don’t really care too much about the name change, but apparently a lot more money was generated in this sponsorship deal. I also read there will be some games on HRT, and some on a new HT platform:
“utakmice će se prikazivati na novoj HT-ovoj platformi, a dio utakmica i na HRT-u.” I hope this means the games will be easier to watch without a subscription.
Croatia-Serbia waterpolo World Championship quarterfinals Wednesday morning from Budapest, Hungary.
What’s the ceiling potential on franjic?
Not that high in my opinion.
Just a versatile utility guy who could be great off the bench for us or could be in the squad as a back up for many positions (as he can play LB, CB, CDM and CM).
Think maybe an upgraded Badelj
A poor mans stanisic
Stani needs to go on loan this season if he’s being serious about preparing for Qatar.
Where would he go?
Maybe to a mid-table Bundesliga team or bottom-table team, at least he will be guaranteed minutes for these type of teams.
Ya I wondered if they want him in bundesliga incase it bites them in the butt. But it’s Bayern. They won’t be losing many points to bottom dwellers. Keeping him In Germany is probably easier to keep tabs and still keep him used to the same competition
Not only Stanisic, but it’s good that Uremovic has got a gig at Hertha which expands the radar for Dalic to choose players who could potentially be at Qatar. I wouldn’t mind it if he replaced Vida in the squad for both September and World Cup campaign.
I think Franjic has a high ceiling as a DM. He won’t be a jack of all trades type player in bundesliga.
Dinamo coaches suck and didn’t use him properly. He def has national team material as a true DM.
It’s rather odd how Robert follows his brother around like a puppy 🐶 every time Niko gets a new gig.
I mean have some pride and confidence in yourself and branch out on your own even if it’s coaching an U-13 girls team!
Or, maybe they grew up together with strong family values, and they are happy to work together.
Robert has a wife and three kids, and (most importantly) he is already set for life.
Being unnecessarily ambitious comes with a cost, which will ruin your family.
If an opportunity falls in his lap where he has less responsibilities and stress (like being an assistant for his brother’s coaching escapades), then it makes perfect sense to take it.
Niko, on the other hand, has only one kid and she is off somewhere in college in Austria. He is probably bored, and wants to get out of the house away from his wife. He has no sons either, so maybe coaching a football team fulfills that part of his life too. 🙂
Lol maminjo you nutter x
You know I’m right lol
Simeone likes his motor.
He will develop more offensively with Celtic.
Atletico would work him into the ground like a rented mule. But he may learn to lock down defensively, if he gets meaningful minutes?
Juranovic has benefited from our UNL campaign as he has played a ton against top competition. Full respect as he answered the call to play left back in Paris.
It is great to see a nogometaš benefit from his service to the repka.
UNL has been tough for us over all but the challenging matches have developed are boys.
Random friendly at Estonia where you blow out your knee are things of the past.
Athletico is gonna replace one back up Croatia RB with another?
What are the odds of that happening again
He should probably stay where he is
They like him there
We know he is probably not upper echelon type guy
Juranovic is most likely going to be on the bench if he goes to premier league or la liga.
Agree