Nikola Vlasic should ask to leave Everton on loan in January if Sam Allardyce continues to bench him.
Nikola Vlasic has been conspicuous by his absence for Everton in recent weeks.
Since Sam Allardyce has replaced Ronald Koeman as Everton manager, the 20-year-old attacker has managed a total of 29 minutes of a possible 360 minutes in the Premier League.
For a player who showed so much potential earlier in the campaign, he is wasted on the bench and you wonder whether the Croat could ask to leave on loan in January unless Big Sam starts giving him more opportunities.
Vlasic, an unused substitution in three of the Toffees’ four league games under Allardyce, has too much talent to spend the next six months on the sidelines, watching but not playing, and loaning him to another Premier League side until the end of the season would be ideal.
He is only 20 but the former Hajduk Split star – a £10 million summer signing under Koeman, according to BBC Sport – has terrified opposition defences at times this season.
He looks a real prospect, one who could be worth three times his summer transfer fee in the future, but he needs regular football and if he can’t get it in the second half of this season then he should be allowed to get it elsewhere until the summer.
You can’t blame the veteran manager, because where does he fit in at the moment? The Merseysiders have a good balance, winning 10 points from 12 under Allardyce, and you know what they say about things which aren’t broken.
But Vlasic, with six months of regular Premier League football under his belt, could return to Goodison Park a serious player in time for next season if he is loaned out.
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