Marko Rog hasn’t set Serie A alight with Napoli, but is still said to have attracted the interest of Premier League Everton and Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund.
If you asked Everton fans which Napoli star they’d love to sign, no doubt you’d hear a lot about the prolific Dries Mertens, the influential Lorenze Insigne or perhaps Marek Hamsik – the Slovakian midfielder who overtook Diego Maradona to become the top scorer in the club’s history. Few, however, would mention the seldom-seen Marko Rog.
The 22-year-old Croatian joined Napoli from Dinamo Zagreb in 2016, but has never really established himself at the Stadio San Paolo. Remarkably, all 25 of his Serie A appearances this season have come from the bench. Yet, it seems that Rog has still done enough to encourage interest from the Premier League and Everton.
Now this comes as something of a surprise, not just because Rog has started just two Serie A games since his £12 million move from Zagreb.
Central midfield is arguably the strongest area of The Toffees’ rather lopsided squad, with Idrissa Gana Gueye, Morgan Schneiderlin, Tom Davies and the highly-rated Beni Baningime all fighting for a place in Everton’s starting XI.
But perhaps Everton have noted the fact that Croatia has produced some of the finest central midfielders in Europe over the last few years, so are backing Rog to follow in the footsteps of Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic.
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