Nikola Vlasic is ‘ready’ to leave Premier League outfit West Ham United in order to boost his Croatia prospects ahead of the 2022 World Cup, national team coach Zlatko Dalic tells Index.
It was supposed to be different, this time around.
When Vlasic arrived at Everton in the summer of 2016, he was a little-known youngster coming to Goodison Park on the back of a couple of promising seasons at Hajduk Split. When he signed for West Ham a few years later, however, it’s fair to say the expectations were different.
Vlasic might have struggled at Everton but, upon his return to English soil, he was an established Croatia international, a Russian Premier League Player of the Year-winner and a midfielder with a fantastic goalscoring record at CSKA Moscow.
But, so far, things haven’t panned out much better for Vlasic at West Ham than they did at Everton.
He’s started just five league games, scoring once. And, according to Dalic, the 24-year-old could even leave the London Stadium after just 12 months in an attempt to boost his confidence ahead of Croatia’s trip to Qatar in November.
Is Nikola Vlasic leaving West Ham already?
“He is ready if he needs to go on loan from West Ham,” explains Dalic, who guided Croatia to the 2018 World Cup final in Moscow.
“Just to play and to come to the World Cup in the right form.
“He arrived at the club that wanted him (West Ham), asked for him and paid for him. But Moyes’ style of play does not suit him.”
“He delighted me in training. He’s full of energy. He is aware of his situation. I talked to him, he said he was ready to fight.”
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Vlasic, who cost West Ham £26 million in August, has already seen a return to CSKA Moscow ruled out ahead of the summer transfer window.
And the hope will be that, like Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma, his second season in claret-and-blue will be far better than his first.
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