Nikola Vlašić is a famous Croatian footballer playing for the Russian football club CSKA. The athlete plays the position of an attacking midfielder.
Biography
The future footballer was born in October 1997 on the fourth in a family of athletes. The father of the family, Joshko Vlašić, a famous Croatian athlete, has repeatedly won various competitions, and also set a national decathlon record. The mother of Nikola Venus played basketball and performed at ski competitions.
Parents sent Nicola to the football section when he was four years old. From the age of nine, he began performing in the children's team of the football club Omladinach Vranich. A talented boy progressed rapidly and showed excellent results. At the age of 14, he moved to the more prestigious and famous Croatian club Hajduk Split. For four years he represented the youth team of the new club, simultaneously signing a contract with the opportunity to play for the main team.
Career
As a professional football player, Vlašić made his debut in the summer of 2014 in a match against the Irish Dundalk, which took place as part of the European League qualifying cycle. The match ended with a 2-0 victory, and Nicola scored one of the goals. This match also updated the club’s record, Vlašić became the youngest player to appear in the field of “Hajduk” on the field. At the time of debut, he was sixteen years old and nine months old.
On July 20th of that year, Vlašić first appeared in the national championship in a match against Istra. Vlašić scored the first goal in the Croatian championship three months later in the match against Zadar. During the season, Nicola regularly appeared on the field and played almost all matches (37 games). Before leaving the club, the talented footballer set another peculiar record: he became the youngest player to have played a hundred games for Hajduk Split.
After four productive seasons at the Croatian club, Vlašić attracted the attention of the English club Everton. At the end of August 2017, the parties agreed on the transfer of the Croatian footballer to the “toffee” camp for ten million pounds. The contract was designed for five years. In September, Nicola made his debut for a new team in the Premier League in a game against a formidable opponent, Totenham Hotspur.
At the end of the month, in a match against Apollo, the Croatian scored his debut goal for the Liverpool club. In the second leg against the Cyprus club, he again scored, ensuring his team a landslide victory. Despite a successful start in the English championship, Vlašić could not cope with serious competition and firmly entrenched in the rotation. During the season, he only appeared on the field nineteen times, and in most cases came on as a substitute.
The next season, Vlašić went to the Russian club CSKA on loan. The army club was counting on a full-fledged acquisition, but the leadership of the toffee insisted on a lease. In the Russian club, Vlašić fell into place and from the very first matches became one of the main figures on the field. Throughout the season, he regularly contributed to every team victory.
After 31 meetings in the colors of the army club, Vlašić scored eight goals against opponents. After the annual lease agreement, CSKA again made attempts to acquire a talented Croatian, and this time the parties agreed. The final transfer has been made. Nikola permanently moved to Russia for 15.7 million pounds, and this acquisition was one of the largest in the history of the Russian club.
National team
From an early age, Nikola Vlašić has been a member of the Croatian national team. In the colors of the team, he first appeared in 2012 in the national team until the age of sixteen. Since 2015, he has been playing for the u21 youth team. Despite his young age, Vlašić already made his debut in the main team in 2017 as part of the control game against the Mexican team. To date, Nicola has played just five matches for the country's main team. In 2019, he was called up to the u21 national team for the European tournament, where he entered the field three times: in matches against Romania, France and England, in two meetings he was able to hit the opponent’s goal.
