When we speak about great Croatian talent, the first player that comes to our mind is Luca Modric but Croatia have a history of providing great players. Remember the 1998 squad which did so well in the World Cup? Davor Suker led that great team to a third place finish and while the national team has been in a few doldrums ever since, they still continue to produce top talent.
One such player who is catching the fancy of a lot of top teams in Europe is 20-year-old Marko Pjaca. The Dinamo Zagreb player has scored 17 goals in two seasons with the club and could well be one of those players who goes under everyone’s radar and comes out trumps in whichever club he ends up at. We dig a little deeper to find out just what he provides to his team.
A striker who can play out wide
Since versatility is such an important facet for any player in the world, Pjaca can play either as a striker or a winger but his preferred position is playing on the left wing and loves to cut in since he is a right-footed player.
Pjaca, known as the next Karim Benzema, has played in Croatia throughout his career and started with Lokomotiva that was his first club under whom he made his senior debut. He started his career with Zagreb as a youngster and re-signed for them in 2014.
Even though he is called as the next Benzema, he has often been likened to Marco Reus, although his goal scoring record does not match that of the Borussia Dortmund star, a lot of traits match up with the German. Pjaca is known for great pace and acceleration which pulls him away from defenders. His dribbling is another key to his game, thus enabling him to take on defenders with relative ease.
His versatility in playing on either side of the wing is an added bonus and Pjaca thrives when playing counter-attacking football. He does go missing in games sometimes and doesn’t have the best ability when it comes to defending or helping out the back line, but that can be forgiven if he continues his growth at this rate.
Although not many know him, he does have a hat-trick to his name against Celtic in the Europa League and it only is a matter of time before a bigger club signs him up as EPL giants Manchester United are behind him. He isn’t the most expensive player in the Croatian league, but he does have the potential of becoming an excellent player. The question is which club will be willing to take the risk on him?
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