Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic is expecting Nikola Vlasic to ‘explode’ after bringing an end to another miserable Premier League spell when leaving West Ham United for Torino.
After making only a handful of starts under David Moyes at West Ham United, Nikola Vlasic now finds himself working under a coach who speaks his language. And we don’t just mean because Torino manager Ivan Juric shares Vlasic’s Croatian background.
Juric got far more out of the enigmatic midfielder than the Scot did during a fine loan spell in Serie A last term, a player who struggled to influence proceedings out wide at West Ham scoring five goals and setting up eight more from his favoured central role.
And after Torino finally agreed on a £10 million deal following months of negotiations, Dalic is expecting Vlasic to approach next summer’s European Championships in some of the form of his life.
Nikola Vlasic finally leaves West Ham United
“Nikola has the chops and talent but, in London, he didn’t perform as expected. Similarly to what had already happened at Everton,” Dalic tells Tuttosport, Vlasic failing to leave much of a mark at Goodison Park either.
“However, he did very well in the three-year period in Moscow with CSKA. He has to get back to those levels. It’s simply a question of mentality. We talked about it together.
“He already showed interesting things in Turin last season. Juric will polish him. I called him up for the World Cup in Qatar, where he played six games because I believe in him.”
“With (Juric), Nikola will explode.”
‘He is special’
West Ham paid £25 million to sign Vlasic from CSKA Moscow and it is testament to just how far his stock had fallen at the London Stadium that they were willing to accept over 50 per cent less just two years later.
“The great thing is that Vlasic also cared a lot about Toro. And the fact that he resisted other opportunities to return to Toro makes me happy,” Granata president Cairo tells Tuttomercatoweb.
“In addition to being a strong player, he is a special boy.”
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