Mislav Orsic’s January switch to Premier League basement dwellers was Dinamo Zagreb’s ‘best transfer of the last 20 years’ according to former boss Ante Cacic.
Orsic’s departure has certainly worked out better for his old employers than his current ones. Ten points clear of Hajduk Split, Dinamo are in the midst of celebrating yet another Croatian league title; cruising to domestic glory even after selling their talismanic top scorer midway through the campaign.
It’s unlikely that there will be any similar, champagne-soaked celebrations at St Mary’s.
Monday’s 4-2 defeat at Nottingham Forest left Ruben Selles’ Southampton eight points adrift of safety. On the brink of relegation.
Orsic was nowhere to be seen once again at the City Ground. In fact, he’s played only six minutes of Premier League football in Saints colours, perhaps the player most negatively affected by the departure of Nathan Jones just a fortnight after the close of the winter window.
Is Mislav Orsic leaving Southampton already?
Orsic was a living legend at Dinamo. As well as their perennial top scorer. But Cacic believes that bringing in £8 million for a forward who will turn 31 in December was nothing less than a ‘fantastic’ piece of business.
“We sold Orsic, and it is Dinamo’s best transfer in the last 20 years!” Cacic tells Sportske Novosti. “He wanted to try out England, which is human.”
Cacic points out that, in Orsic’s absence, the younger Luka Ivanusec has stepped up.
“That’s a gain of 10 million euros. And you open the possibility that Ivanusec, who has flourished, can play in that position,” Cacic adds.
“That is why Orsic’s transfer was a fantastic deal.”
Orsic’s agent has already indicated that the Croatia international – who scored in the third-place play-off at the Qatar World Cup – could be on his way out of St Mary’s after just a few uneventful months.
It remains to be seen if Orsic’s trevails will put Ivanusec off following in his footsteps. Vincent Kompany has the attacking midfielder high on his summer wishlist at Championship champions Burnley.
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