Everton manager Ronald Koeman has praised winger Nikola Vlasic.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman has told the club’s official website that he feels new signing Nikola Vlasic has adapted well to life at Goodison Park.
The Toffees made a host of big signings over the summer, with Ronald Koeman bringing in the likes of Jordan Pickford, Michael Keane, Davy Klaassen, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Wayne Rooney.
On deadline day, Everton were looking for a left-sided defender and a forward, but they only ended up with a winger, snapping up Nikola Vlasic from Hajduk Split.
Wide man Vlasic, 19, hit four goals and nine assists in 37 games for Hajduk last season, and after notching three goals and one assist in the first six league games of this season, Everton swooped to land him.
The winger faced Everton in their two-legged Europa League qualifier, and subsequently earned a move to Goodison Park, where he has gone straight into first-team reckoning.
Vlasic has already made three appearances for Everton, and started in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup clash against Sunderland, with the Liverpool Echo claiming that he is fast becoming a fan favourite.
Now, manager Koeman has told the club’s official website that he feels Vlasic has adapted well to life at Goodison Park, praising him for being ‘strong on the ball’ against Sunderland, proving he is a big talent.
Koeman also feels that Vlasic’s adjustment has been helped by the presence of so many other young players at Everton, with the intention of them all developing together and thriving in the future,
“Nikola has adapted to the team really well,” said Koeman. “He is a good player and that’s the reason that we signed him. He is young – only 19 – but he has a lot of experience and he can play out of a lot of positions. He was strong on the ball against Sunderland and also against Atalanta in the Europa League, and he has shown that he is a big talent,” he added.
“It has helped him having a lot of first-team players of a similar age around him. It is always good for young players to have other youngsters around them. They are the same level in terms of their development at Everton. In that way, we have a bright future because if you look at the team from Wednesday night, we ended the game with six or seven players under the age of 22 years old. That’s really good and what the Club needs. Lets hope that every one of those players can go on developing like everybody is expecting,” he added.
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