He was supposed to hit the ground running in England when Everton bought Nikola Vlašić from Hajduk Split in the summer of 2017 for £10 million – still a record fee for the Croatian club.
But once the talented 20 year-old got to Everton, then manager Sam Allardyce, kept his Croatian wunderkind on the bench for the majority of the season. Vlašić only appeared for Everton in 12 matches during his first season at the Merseyside club.
He was then loaned out to CSKA Moscow for the season following the 2018 World Cup and exceeded all expectation as a 21 year-old in Russia. Vlašić scored the game winner for CSKA against Real Madrid in Champions League and has tallied five goals in 18 appearances this season.
Vlašić even got decent playing time for Croatia in UEFA Nations League, coming off the bench for the Vatreni in a 3-2 win over Spain at Maksimir and getting the start against England at Wembley; assisting Andrej Kramarić on his opening wunder-gol.
Vlašić has the goods and is the future of the Croatian midfield. He attacks with pace and is not scared to shoot the ball from long range. Alongside Josip Brekalo, the future is bright once the likes of Luka Modrić and Ivan Rakitić retire from the international scene.
But to guide Vlašić to greatness, he will need to develop at club level. What Everton does with him in the summer will be huge for his development. Vlašić is ready to play with the big boys of the Premier League after having a full season in Russia. Sam Allardyce is gone with Portuguese manager Marco Silva at the helm.
Everton are a mid-table English side who are capable of finishing in the top eight. Vlašić will make them a better team next season but will management decide to play him or loan him out for another year?
My opinion: Let the kid start for Everton next year. He’ll have Croatian buddy Dejan Lovren in Liverpool to compare notes with – and if all goes well – Vlašić can be the face of Everton football.
Young Croats the few that there are could careless
About Serbs, they are Facebook friends. Older guys like us
Aren’t down with them. The Selo remembers!
Worst are the young Croatian Feminist Kurwa’s
Agreed Danny J
Knezovic can go off to Cedo land and never come back as far as I am concerned if he is even thinking of that
Well if hes eligible to play for Serbia that means hes got some Serbian in him. If thats the case he can choose he wants, and since serbia is worse, he might make their bench
I don’t think he woudl make our bench regardless?
Speaking of jugo
Bojan Knezevic wants to jump ship to Serbia
Can we all agree Eduardo,olmo guys like this we can understand playing for their countries
But if your even thinking of Serbia
Go fuck yourself
I don’t care if it’s the next Ronaldo
AGHOFASGHA JEBEM TI MATER EHEAHOHFRHQOF
Youre all yugos. I am the biggest Ustasa in NY and the USA.
@Elvis
“BTW does she have a dad ?”
No. She has one parent, her Croatian mum.
She’s a half-blood.
Maybe you can answer the question BZ wouldn’t,
Can a half-blood celebrate Croatia being the “blood champions of the world”? Cos a lot people here are half-bloods, I ask for them.
@Razbijac
and some big cocks 😉
I agree, Croats are a Dinaric/Slavic/Roman Hybrid, a mixture of different tribes forged into one people……..which produces a pretty damn good football team and some hot women!
Be on the look out for some Cro on Cro action this afternoon, as Basic’s Bordeaux take on Caleta-Car’s Marseille!
Well no not that way. Croats are a Dinaric/Slavic Hybrid.
Several white races are mixed in there. Shanelle is a ghetto name I used to hear on NJ Public Transit. I cringe when I hear it mentioned in Croatian circles. BTW does she have a dad ? or is he another AA dead beat? I believe is preserving our identity as much as possiable because we special.
@Soul Champ
“Actually I am “full blooded” Croat.. if you believe in that myth?”
Full blooded, meaning both your parents are Croats.
What’s this myth you’re talking about though, because you did call France “west Africa united,” why, because of some myth?
@Elvis
“There is also no Ultra pure Croat.”
You’ve changed your tune, you said half-blood Shanelle Petty wasn’t Croatian.
Are you a half-blood like Shanelle, meaning you have only one Croatian parent?
Souly is a motivator. He always believes. Nothing wrong with that when packaged with patriotic passion. There is also no
Ultra pure Croat.
Actually I am “full blooded” Croat.. if you believe in that myth?
When Luka made his move to Real Madrid the Spanish press called him a bust as well as many “full blooded” Croats on this site.
Kroos at that point was rated higher than Modrić and given the 8 jersey while Modric was given a non starter #?
As the years went on it was clear that Modrić was the creative genius on the best team in the world.
Kroos is limited and one trick pony with a sweet right foot. Luka has to cover for his lazy ass on defense and create for his predictable play.
FYI .. ALL my comments are Child-LIKE!!
It is the Child-ISH comments that need to be cleaned up on this site.
I do appreciate your perspective as you took the time craft something in between calling out my Croatian adult Self.
Pametna baka..
A wise old bakica once said,
“Ova Hrvatska nista vrijedi dok Pupovac u Sabor sidi.”
And the bakica might be a guest of Bujica soon!
@Soul Champ
“Luka cannot carry Real Madrid anymore.”
After Real’s 3 ucl titles in a row, has Modric’s role, after Ronaldo’s departure, changed this season? The games I’ve seen he was in the attacking third a lot more than I’d ever seen him before Ronaldo’s departure, maybe that adds a burden that he never had before Ronaldo’s departure, one he’s struggled to carry this season without Ronaldo. I notice Ronaldo is doing fine at Juventus without Modric.
“Kroos is taking years off Modrić.”
You said Modric will play till he’s 40 Roger Milla style. How long do you reckon he would of played if Kroos didn’t take “years off Modric”?
“Luka has to work double for his pedestrian ass.”
In 2017 both players made the Fifpro world XI, in 2018 Kroos didn’t make it while Modric did, Modric also won the Balon d’Or.
Are you saying Modric winning the Balon d’Or is an effect caused by having to “work double” for Kroos’s “pedestrian ass”? Or is it just this season he’s had to “work double” for Kroos’s “pedestrian ass”?
Your comment is child like and I ask you some questions so you can clear things up.
Are you a full-blooded Croat? I say NO.
@ gbvh
Thank you for that post.
Kroos is taking years off Modrić.
Luka has to work double for his pedestrian ass.
If Kroos were Croatian he would’ve be run out town two years ago.
He also stole minutes from Kovačić.
So he is in the way twice.
@ Elvis
No way I am selling out on Halilovic.
Yes .. he has made bone head move after bone head move.
But before ankle injury he was playing real mature for Las Palmas.
I want to see him rock out this summer for u21 Euros.
You gonna tell me he couldn’t help on the RW for 20 minutes against Hungry and Azerbaijan?
Line up all the “busts” internet tough guys.
Halilovic is the goods.
Maybe he is becoming his own man and stabilizing his career.
Rebić had mono and was in the wilderness for 4 years.
Dado Prso was fixing cars in Zadar before he got his game going in his mid 20’s.
Nogometaš gets to age 29 to figure it out.
Because he can play till his ~35.
Olić got better in his 30’s!
Mandžukić is beast at 32.
Oh yeah and Modrić did a few things in his 30’s as well.
perhaps antonio marin could have a touch of the sublime in his game. from what i’ve seen he reminds me of Kaka. but after what has happened to marko pjaca, who i felt could become our first complete forward since boksic and dudu, i will not burden any of these guys with my hopes or predictions. all i will say is good luck boys. work hard
according to what i have seen. the 2 players we have that for me have the level of sublime talent, that i would call genius, are coric and halilovic. funny how both of them have completely failed to adapt to high level football. i mean we have loads of really talented players. taking nothing away from rebic, or brekalo or vlasic or any of the other players we have. but what we have lacked since prosinecki is a player who can make the whole game dance to his tune, or a player who can produce a piece of absolute genius to change a game. i had high hopes for halilovic and also coric, because they have that something different. i hope they can realize how special they can be and match their talent with hard work to blossom into world class flair players
re: espn fc player ratings … that site also had as their top story two days in a row — some gal going to liverpool for a game.
“Katie Nolan goes to Liverpool to watch her beloved Reds.”
i like that site less and less each day.
Marca in Spain had this to say about Modric yesterday:
>>Like Benzema, the Croatian needed help that wasn’t there. He tried to move things around but nobody was interested.
Halilovic has the skills .
Luka cannot carry Real Madrid anymore.
If they have young horses around him then he can work his magic.
http://bleacherreport.com/post/juventus/db1f4b69-3cd7-42ad-8d81-e0eba574b666
The player ratings said Luka Modric needs a long summer rest they only rated him a 5 in the 2:1 defeat to Valencia.
Thanks for the link, Mr. Black. Hopefully he continues to get time.
It is time to replace Rakitic after the Euros with one of our young guns in the midfield like Vlasic as I am getting a bit bored with his shoots flying over the bar all the time and his crosses going nowhere
Halilovic vs AA Gent. Impressive as a number 10. Standard fans adore him.
https://youtu.be/-LQaTms3wqM
i wonder how hajduk invested that 10 mill
@american idiot not sure if I’ve ever heard of him but it’s always great to have someone new on the radar. If he becomes big I’ll remember you shouted him out first
Let’s not forget Jozo Stanic either, he’s got talent, if he didn’t Augsburg wouldn’t want him, he’s still only 19yrs old and has now played 2mins for Augsburg in the Bundesliga.
I believe I’m the first to mention him here (if anyone else has please let me know?), if he ever becomes something please remember that, or I can remind ya’ll when it’s appropriate.
Let’s not forget about Sandro Kulenović playing in the Plish league…the kid can put the ball in the net! He’s only 19, he has height, and has drawn comparisons to Mandžukić
@ Aussie Croat
A lot of these teams have partnerships with major clubs I think (similar to how Lokomotiva acts as a feeder team to Dinamo, when they technically are not). Sassuolo does the same for Juventus. I think a couple of Dutch league teams do this for Chelsea as well and they accept all the young players that these team throw at them.
The benefit is, you get an additional player to round out your roster (without having to pay a salary).
But there really is no incentive to go through any growing pains with them (since they’ll be heading back anyway). So, you just use them when you need them.
Anderlecht has nothing to gain by trying to play Halilovic through his mistakes, so it’s no surprise that they’re not automatically starting him. If he immediately starts showing signs that he can really help them win the Belgian League title, then they will play him…but they are not going to sit through any growing pains for the benefit of his development.
Halilovic is a primma donna, but he may have been brought back down to Earth over these past couple years. But Alen and his dad are just idiots for signing with Milan in the first place. That team is a mess, and they likely just wanted to sign with a “big name” team. Now this team loans him out to a smaller team anyway.
They should have just signed with a mid-tier La Liga team or Serie A club that plays to his strengths and who are interested in developing him (and will guarantee him minutes).
He had a good thing going at Gijon when he was first loaned there. He should have stuck around there as long as he could.
@Dannyj
It’s hard to gauge talent at that young of an age (especially goalkeepers). I remember when Adrian Šemper looked like a superstar four years ago when we played in the U17 World Cup. Now the dude is just riding the pine at Chievo.
Ziger wasn’t even a Dinamo youth player. He played for NK Zagreb’s U17 team and it looks like he just went to Chelsea’s U18 team from there. Probably got a trial from some family friend hookup, who knows.
There are actually TONS of Croats playing on U18 youth teams across Europe. It’s insane. Just a month ago, we were all chatting about Josip Stanisic playing for Bayern’s U18 squad and how Germany was pressuring him to play for them…meanwhile he’s like one of three Croat players on Bayern’s U18 team. We were also talking about that half-Croat Nikola Tavares dude who plays for Crystal Palace’s youth team. It also seems like every single Serie A Primavera (U19) team has at least one Croat too. Lots of random young Croat players in Serie B as well as other leagues in France, Portugal and Belgium.
So it’s not really surprising to see this. I think the higher talents get picked up by Dinamo anyway, and then these others just try their luck in other leagues when they get the chance (if they don’t want to stick to a HNL team).
We must be the top country in the world or something for the ratio of footballers per population though.
Really hoping one day we are saying, “geez we olmost had a cancer in our locker room.”
Just in regards to Halilovic.
He goes to all these clubs – but doesn’t even get on the pitch. If he’s got a big head or he’s a prick of a person, why are these teams bringing him on? He’s so talented. He’s been on more team lists than I’ve had hot fucking dinners.
WTF is wrong with him?
Was this ziger kid sold off early? I don’t understand all the makings of youth transfers and sales and that
But how does a kid like that not stay at dinamos program?
One woudl think he has some talent if playing for Chelsea youth squad
Let’s hope we can get an elite keeper sometime soon
Halilovic subbed in after 53 minutes for Standard against AA Gent. Standard won 1-2 with an extremely impressive Halilovic. Halilovic was technically brilliant and earned a penalty for Standard.
@maminjo that’s funny. Croatian kid?
Yes it is okay that’s Dinamo didn’t advance. Marin got a lot of publicity. Luckily, he’s on a pro contract with Dinamo until he’s 19
Chelsea’s youth keeper made two critical stops to win the shootout for them.
His name is Karlo Žiger and he’s from Zagreb, lol.
I guess it’s a win win for us.
He scored twice today?
That’s good. It’s ok that Dinamo didn’t advance. I don’t care if these youngsters get too much exposure anyway. I’d rather they all stay at Dinamo a few more years.
Remember, some of these guys are still not 18 yet, and in Croatia, you can void your pro contract when still under 18. The last thing I want to see is some of the seljak parents of these kids being tempted by other clubs looking to poach Dinamo’s youth.
@DannyJ he scored twice today in that match. Too bad they lost.
Dinamo youth were up 2-0 and lost it against Chelsea in pk apparently
People talking up this Marin kid…let’s hope he is the real deal
That’s actually a pretty good joke
On 2 April 2019, several Spanish media reported about Croatia’s manager Zlatko Dalić trying to convince Olmo to play for Croatia and even asking Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović to give the player Croatian citizenship so he can debut as soon as possible. The news turned out to be an April Fool’s joke by Croatian media, which Spanish media didn’t know.[7][8]
Yea, Krovinović has the same injury as Pjaca… So we can pretty much assume that it’s a coin toss that he ever regains that form again. Such a shame that we lost two quality prospects in the same year to the same injury (Pjaca and Krovinović are friends since childhood too).
As for Halilović… He’s just a victim of his stupid father and their camp making the poor decision to sign with Milan (who then loaned him out to a team that has zero incentive to develop him).
When I first heard that he was signing with Milan, I was like “what is this kid doing?”… Since Milan has been in turmoil these past several years.
But then I realized that his goofball dad probably was all enamored by Milan (from the days when Boban and Savičević played for them) and that was the extent of the information needed for them to sign with Milan, lol.
Yea, Krovinović has the same injury as Pjaca… So we can pretty much assume that it’s a coin toss that he ever regains that form again. Such a shame that we lost two quality prospects in the same year to the same injury (Pjaca and Krovinović are friends since childhood too).
As for Halilović… He’s just a victim of his stupid father and their camp making the poor decision to sign with Milan (who then loaned him out to a team that has zero incentive to develop him).
When I first heard that he was signing with Milan, I was like “what is this kid doing?”… Since Milan has been in turmoil these past several years.
But then I realized that his goofball His dad probably was all enamored by Milan (from the days when Boban and Savičević played for them) and that was the extent of the information needed for them to sign with Milan, lol.
@Dannyj
I’m not sure on Krovinovic. He simply hasn’t been able to get into the team very often since his injury. He randomly started against Dinamo in the first leg and then didn’t play at all in the second. He might have to move if he wants to play again because Benfica is a talent factory. Heck who’s seen anything about Branimir Kalaica since he left Dinamo a few years ago? He’s only 20, but he’s only ever played for the first team once and scored, although I’m not sure it was really a competitive game. I did fact check and it looks like he plays most of the games for the B squad so who knows how they view him. Can’t hurt for Krovinovic to play for the B squad a bit if he’s not going to get consistent game time.
On a side note, yes Halilovic is only 22, but he’s really in a hole now. He can hardly get off the bench in the Belgian league. I’m not sure if LAKnat is joking every time he says Halilovic should be called up and started, but for me, he’s so far from being called up if he can’t get minutes in the Belgian league.
Seems dalic better find an amazing Croatian woman to get olmo to stay!
On a serious note seems like Vlasic is suited to England with his athleticism or maybe somewhere in Germany?
I asked in the other thread… is Filip krovinovic all but done for potential repka player?
Rumour has it that one of the big clubs in Turkey really want to bring Vlasic in during the summer. Where ever he ends up… I pray he gets consistent playing time.
This is why I come to this site…to read informative things about our youth players and the game in general.How refreshing!
Good work boys.
Get your viskey colas ready!
Dinamo’s in town!
I agree about Palaversa being loaned out to teams who don’t care to develop. Poor decision in my books. Pasalic has been a great example of that (Hajduk player again).
Hopefully, Vlasic gets some real playing time at Everton next season. Tough to tell since so much could change at Everton as well. I think Brekalo’s path has been great thus far. That said, he hasn’t been starting as often recently. But at least both play regularly at decent clubs.
@Maminjo so true. As long as we know they are true Hrvats that’s all that matters
Only Borna Sosa has the non-Croatian last name.
He’s a Hercegovac, but God knows how he got that last name lol.
The funny thing is that these last names like Šego, Marin, Čolina and Palaversa sound like they are Italian but they are not at all.
They are very Croatian names and I don’t think they exist at all in Italy (despite Dalmacija being a part of Venice).
all those ones that end in “alo” like Brekalo, Menalo, etc…all are pretty much Hercegovci too.
People will think we imported a bunch of Italians/Spaniards onto our squad, lol.
Nikola Moro going to Dinamo was the best thing for his career.
Dude is from Solin. He family are hardcore Hajdukovci. But, of course, Hajduk drops the ball on him (like many other talents) and he had no choice but to go play for Dinamo.
Kid had no money and Hajduk wouldn’t even cover equipment costs for him to play. Disaster.
@Maminjo hahahaha don’t forget about Šego and Čolina too!!
BTW, our youngsters have such sexy marketable last names like Moro, Palaversa, Marin, and Brekalo.
I’m sure Serie A commentators love saying Marko Pjaca’s name over names like Sergej Milinkovich-Savich or Samir Handanovich.
@Maminjo
True, I did leave Olmo out…let’s wait until he’s 100% on our squad haha
And I yes I do know that it is too early to tell what will happen with Marin, Palaversa, and Moro, but just imagine what a team that would be in they all pan out!! Marin just has this beautiful feel for the game that literally gives me chills…he could be the leader of a World Cup winning squad…and yes, I agree with you about Moro, he is on the right track. Marin is also a proud Croat which will make him push even harder when playing nationally, almost like Brekalo
@CroatiaU14
You forgot Olmo. 😉
But it’s way too early to tell what will happen with Marin, Palaversa and Moro.
Hajduk may have already screwed us all over by selling Palaversa so quickly. He goes to Man City next season, likely to be randomly loaned out to a revolving door of mediocre Dutch League teams (who won’t have a stake or interest in developing him).
Moro looks like he’s on the right track. He’ll probably be at Dinamo for another full season after this one (since Dinamo are a competent organization).
Marin still too young. We’ll see how he does next year when they promote him to the A squad. If he pans out, he is supposed to be the biggest talent out of all these guys.
Imagine this midfield:
Marin……………Brekalo
……….Vlašić…………
…Palaversa…Moro…
@Ante agreed. Let him shine for Everton. He is a consistent player and is fearless unlike some of our other u21’s. He plays with his heart for club and country. That old manager was stupid to send him on loan. He should have given Vlašić a couple more minutes every now and then. I can see Vlašić as our CAM for a long time.