West Ham United need to get it right in the summer transfer window and Slaven Bilic could use his Croatian influence to good effect.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic
The Hammers turned their season around after Christmas and are sitting in the relative comfort of 12th in the Premier League table despite going five games without a win.
While the mediocrity of midtable may not provide an exciting end to the season for fans of the East London club, it does give Bilic and co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan plenty of time to prepare their summer recruitment.
The Hammers got things badly wrong last summer as they diluted their squad with a glut of poor quality free transfers and flop loan signings despite promising supporters big name marquee signings as they took up residence at their new 60,000 seater Olympic Stadium home.
Having lost star man Dimitri Payet in January the club faces a big task to bring in better quality players to compete with the Premier League elite.
And Bilic should use his Croatian influence to lure Mario Pasalic – who has spent the season on loan at Italian giants AC Milan from West Ham’s London rivals Chelsea – to the club.
The midfielder started his career at Bilic’s club Hajduk Split before moving to Chelsea for a reported £3 million fee back in 2014.
AC Milan’s Mario Pasalic celebrates after scoring
His future in West London looks uncertain, though, given that the Blues have loaned the 22-year-old out for three consecutive seasons since to Elche, Monaco and Milan.
Pasalic made his senior international debut for Croatia in 2014 and needs to find a club to call his own if he is to realise his undoubted potential.
He has an impressed haul of 23 goals from 123 senior professional appearances at some prestigious clubs.
Pasalic shoots
Given West Ham’s shortage of quality in central midfield this season with question marks over captain Mark Noble, Cheikhou Kouyate being played out of position, Robert Snodgrass so far failing to hit things off in East London and now Pedro Obiang’s season-ending injury Bilic will be keen to bolster his options.
Pasalic is not proven in the Premier League but where better for him to come of age than under the man who brought through Croatia’s golden generation a decade ago.
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