It’s hard being a wonderkid.
Not that we’re speaking from experience, because we’re not, but having followed everything Ante Coric for quite some time, it doesn’t come across as all sunshine and rainbows.
Over the years, the now 20-year-old has been linked with various moves to the Premier League, which includes Tottenham, but he still remains a Dinamo Zagreb player.
Last September, things took an ugly turn when the youngster fell out with his manager after being accused of ‘not pulling his weight in training’.
At the time, there had been a claim that Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham had made a €15m verbal offer for the young attacking midfielder.
Fast forward to May 2017, and things are looking even grimmer, as Večerjni in Croatia report Dinamo Zagreb would happily accept, from Tottenham or anyone else, any offer of around €10m for Coric.
The youngster has come under more criticism recently, with the newspaper explaining Coric ‘has not accepted the demands of modern football’, as well as being distracted by all the transfer stories about him.
Taking too many touches when he gets the ball, the young forward is falling into the category of talented players who think their natural ability is enough to make them a star, when, in reality, hard work is what really gets them there.
Večerjni point towards the likes of Luka Modric and Mario Mandzukic as examples to follow, two players preparing themselves for a Champions League final on the 3rd of June.
Coric is likely to leave soon, mostly because Dinamo Zagreb are getting incredibly frustrated with him, but there is now a lot of doubt as to whether his next club will be a top European one.
Considering his latest link was with Sampdoria, our guess is no. It’s an opportunity for Tottenham, but Pochettino would no doubt be concerned about reports of Coric’s work-rate issues.
