Nikola Vlašić

Nikola Vlašić (Croatian pronunciation: [nǐkola ʋlâʃitɕ];[3][4] born 4 October 1997) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Russian Premier League club CSKA Moscow and the Croatia national team.

Nikola Vlašić
Vlašić with CSKA Moscow in 2019
Personal information
Full name Nikola Vlašić[1]
Date of birth (1997-10-04) 4 October 1997[2]
Place of birth Split, Croatia
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Playing position(s) Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team
 CSKA Moscow
Number 8
Youth career
2006–2009 Omladinac Vranjic
2010–2014 Hajduk Split
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2017 Hajduk Split 86 (11)
2017–2019 Everton 12 (0)
2018–2019 → CSKA Moscow (loan) 25 (5)
2019– CSKA Moscow 30 (12)
National team‡
2012–2013 Croatia U16 8 (1)
2013 Croatia U17 8 (1)
2014 Croatia U18 2 (1)
2015 Croatia U19 3 (0)
2015–2019 Croatia U21 17 (6)
2017– Croatia 11 (3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22 July 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19 November 2019

In 2014, Vlašić made list of the world's top 40 footballers born in 1997, compiled by The Guardian.[5]

Club career

Hajduk Split

Born in Split to the family of the athletics coach Joško Vlašić, as the younger brother of the world champion high jumper Blanka Vlašić, Nikola's future football career was viewed as a "project" by his father, who started training him personally ever since he was four years old.[6]

Vlašić went on to join the NK Omladinac Vranjic academy, before he was brought to HNK Hajduk Split, aged 12. He made his debut for the Croatia U16 national football team at the age of 14,[7] playing regularly with older teammates at U17 and U18 levels as well. He excelled at youth club level as well, and in the 2013–2014 season he formed a potent midfield partnership for the Hajduk U17 team with Andrija Balić, which resulted in the team finishing the first half of the season in first place, without a single loss. The two then received and signed professional contracts,[8] and were moved to the U19 team, where he played regularly.

He made his first team debut in the UEFA Europa League qualifying match on 17 July 2014, playing in the away match against Dundalk F.C.. Scoring on his debut, he became Hajduk Split's youngest scorer in international competitions, aged 16 years and 9 months, 2 months less than the previous record holder Mario Tičinović.[9] That season, Vlašić went on to make 37 appearances in all competitions, scoring four goals.[10]

On 30 June 2016, Hajduk announced that Vlašić had been appointed vice-captain of the club, with Lovre Kalinić continuing to be the captain.[11] As Kalinić was on extended holidays as a result of being part of the Croatian squad at UEFA Euro 2016, Vlašić captained Hajduk for the first time on 14 July 2016, the season opening fixture; a 2–2 away draw against CS Municipal Studențesc Iași in the second round of the 2016–17 Europa League qualifying phase.[12] Despite his tender age, Vlašić would captain the side four further times that season.

Everton

On 31 August 2017, Vlašić signed a five-year deal with Premier League club Everton for a fee of around £10 million, which is the Hajduk Split record transfer.[13][14] Vlašić impressed Everton manager Ronald Koeman and director of football Steve Walsh when Everton and Hajduk faced each other in the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League play-off round.[15] Vlašić scored his first goal for Everton on his debut at Goodison Park to put Everton ahead against Apollon Limassol in the Europa League, in the 66th minute on 28 September 2017.

CSKA Moscow

On 15 August 2018, Russian club PFC CSKA Moscow announced that Vlašić joined them on loan for the 2018–19 season.[16] On 2 October 2018 Vlašić scored the winning goal against title holders Real Madrid in the 2nd minute in the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League.

On 19 June 2019, CSKA announced the signing of Vlašić on a five-year contract for an undisclosed fee from Everton.[17] He finished his second season at the club with 13 goals and seven assists, as CSKA finished fourth in the league.[18]

International career

Senior

On 28 May 2017 Vlašić made his debut with Croatia in a friendly match against Mexico after being named in the starting line-up.[19]

On 18 November 2018, he provided an assist to Andrej Kramarić in a UEFA Nations League match against England for a 0–1 lead, which Croatia eventually lost 2–1.

On 6 September 2019, he scored his first goal for the senior squad in a Euro 2020 qualifying match against Slovakia for a 0–1 lead. Croatia won the game 0–4. On 13 October 2019, Vlašić scored yet another opening goal in a 1–1 draw with Wales.

Personal life

He is the brother of Croatian athlete Blanka Vlašić.[20]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 16 July 2020[21]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup[lower-alpha 1] League Cup[lower-alpha 2] Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Hajduk Split 2014–15 Prva HNL 27350—5[lower-alpha 3]1374
2015–16 23130—8[lower-alpha 3]1342
2016–17 30410—6[lower-alpha 3]0374
2017–18 6300—6[lower-alpha 3]0123
Total 861190—25212013
Everton 2017–18 Premier League 12000106[lower-alpha 3]2192
Total 120001062192
CSKA Moscow (loan) 2018–19 Russian Premier League 25500—6[lower-alpha 4]3348
CSKA Moscow 2019–20 291220—6[lower-alpha 3]13713
Total 541720—1247121
Career total 152281101043821036
  1. Includes Croatian Cup, FA Cup and Russian Cup
  2. Includes EFL Cup
  3. Appearances in the Europa League
  4. Appearances in the Champions League

International
As of match played 19 November 2019[22]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Croatia 201720
201820
201973
Total113

International goals
Scores and results list Croatia's goal tally first.[22]
No.DateVenueCapOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1 6 September 2019Anton Malatinský Stadium, Trnava, Slovakia6 Slovakia1–04–0UEFA Euro 2020 qualification
2 13 October 2019Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales9 Wales1–01–1
3 16 November 2019Stadion Rujevica, Rijeka, Croatia10 Slovakia1–13–1

References
  1. "Updated squads for 2017/18 Premier League confirmed". Premier League. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  2. "Nikola Vlasic Profile". Premier League.
  3. "Nìkola". Hrvatski jezični portal (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 17 March 2018. Nìkola
  4. "Vlȁškā". Hrvatski jezični portal (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 17 March 2018. Vlȁšić
  5. "Next Generation 2014: 40 of the best young talents in world football". The Guardian. 14 October 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  6. "Joško Vlašić: Nije Nikola projekt za zaradu" (in Croatian). Večernji list. 22 February 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  7. "Statistics - Caps: Nikola Vlašić". Croatian Football Federation. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  8. "Potpisali Vlašić, Hairlahović i Balić: Očekujemo puno od njih" (in Croatian). 24sata. 16 January 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  9. "Hajduk slavio u Irskoj: Nikola Vlašić najmlađi strijelac 'bijelih' u povijesti!" (in Croatian). Gol.hr. 17 July 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  10. "Prva momčad • HNK Hajduk Split". hajduk.hr.
  11. "Kalinić je kapetan, a Nikola Vlašić njegov nasljednik!". hajduk.hr.
  12. uefa.com. "UEFA Europa League 2016/17 - History - CSMS laşi-Hajduk Split – UEFA.com". Uefa.com.
  13. McNulty, Phil (31 August 2017). "Nikola Vlasic: Everton seal £10m deal for Hajduk Split forward". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  14. "Blues Sign Vlasic". Everton FC. 31 August 2017. Archived from the original on 5 December 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  15. McNulty, Phil. "Nikola Vlasic: Everton seal £10m deal for Hajduk Split forward". BBC. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  16. "Nikola Vlašić joins PFC CSKA". PFC CSKA Moscow. 15 August 2018.
  17. "ПФК ЦСКА выкупил трансфер Николы Влашича". pfc-cska.com/ (in Russian). PFC CSKA Moscow. 19 June 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  18. Šola, Robert (23 July 2020). "Rampa je dignuta, Nikola Vlašić može u slavni klub u gotovo pola cijene! Evo koliko traže za Vatrenog". Sportske novosti (in Croatian).
  19. Marshall, Tom (28 May 2017). "Croatia beat Mexico to spoil Hernandez's record-breaking night". ESPN. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  20. Morić, Danijela-Ana (10 September 2019). "Sestrin ponos: Svi govore o talentiranom i zgodnom bratu Blanke Vlašić". tportal.hr. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  21. "N. Vlašić". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  22. "Nikola Vlašić profile". eu-football.info. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
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