Last season, West Ham United sent Nikola Vlasic on loan to Torino, where he started in great form until the World Cup in Qatar.
He played for Croatia throughout the tournament, helping his country come third, and then returned to Turin, where his form dipped drastically, raising a few questions.
Well, Tuttosport explain on Tuesday that the reason for that wasn’t him being fatigued from playing too much, but because he was ill.
They recall that the first semester of the calendar year, when he was still loaned by West Ham, was something of a ‘black hole’ from him.
While he might have been tired from the World Cup, it was also an illness, mononucleosis, that ‘debilitated him for a long time’.
It’s pointed out that symptoms include the weakening of the body for an athlete, and during the February-March period, the player ‘didn’t understand why he couldn’t shine anymore’, causing him to also suffer psychologically.
The problem was, ‘he had no obvious symptoms’, such as high fevers, but simply had ‘recurring weaknesses’ and a ‘strange tiredness that came and went’.
However, it was when his six-month old baby ‘began to suffer from a very high and prolonged fever’ that they discovered the mononucleosis connection, as the parents were also advised to undergo tests.
That’s when it was ‘discovered that both had previously been subject’ to the disease, which is when the now former West Ham player reportedly exclaimed: “That’s why I couldn’t do what I wanted anymore!”
In the end, it never mattered, as Torino always wanted to keep him, and eventually struck a deal with the Hammers to sign him permanently.
Still, a tough few months have now been explained.
