Nikola Vlasic’s situation at Everton is receiving coverage in the Croatian media, with worry it could see his hopes of going to the World Cup dashed.
Even before Sam Allardyce made comments about Vlasic only really featuring from next season onwards, there had been a series of articles in Croatia questioning the situation.
Earlier this week Dnevno spoke to the 20 year old’s father, and whilst Josko Vlasic was as diplomatic as he could be, it’s clear he feels Allardyce needs to focus on youth more.
Josko is with his son in Liverpool, and Dnevno telephoned him to ask what’s going on, and how the striker is taking things: “It’s not my place to talk about a new coach, to talk about the expertise or actions of a new coach. I would explain it differently.
“Everton is a club that has to live from young players… Everton cannot buy a £100m player, and it’s not likely anyone worth a hundred million would come to such as Everton who does not fight for trophies, is it?
“Therefore, Everton has to live from young footballers, foreign or English, that is all the same. And there’s a problem with Nikola, who started great and was then sent off to the side. To understand, Nikola is progressing day by day, where he is today is better than he was a year ago or a few months ago. He should be the prospect of the club, not some older players.”
Asked if the whole thing is making his son unhappy, Josko explained: “Not at all. He works like never before. He knows where he came, he knows how in England he’s expected to be better than three others to find a place. And he will find it.
“The English are such a people, they have been around the world for five hundred years, and they do not have the trouble to take on a great coach and then cancel him after some time. As well as taking the expensive player to sit on the bench or in the stands. What did I mean by that? In England, such situations like Nikola is experiencing are normal and sooner or later they are all right, everything comes to through, because quality always comes out. Always.”
Reading between the lines, there’s clearly some annoyance, but the Vlasic family have a long and proud history in sport and Josko isn’t going to run to the media kicking and screaming.
