‘Explode’: National team manager makes very bold prediction about Nikola Vlasic after his £8 million West Ham exit

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Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic has made a bold prediction about Nikola Vlasic after he left West Ham United to join Torino in the summer.

West Ham sold Nikola Vlasic to Italian side Torino in the summer transfer window for around £8 million (6 foot 2).

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The 25-year-old’s agent recently came out and suggested that his client never felt the love at the London Stadium.

Vlasic really struggled to impress at West Ham. I don’t think he was cut out for the Premier League, but David Moyes playing him out of position definitely didn’t help either.

So a move away for him was definitely the correct outcome for both him and the Hammers.

Whether he’ll go on to be a success in Turin remains to be seen, but his international manager is pretty certain that he will…

National team manager makes bold Nikola Vlasic prediction after West Ham exit

Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic is clearly a big fan of the Torino ace, he played him in six games at the World Cup out in Qatar in December.

And Dalic responded when asked whether the move to Torino was a good one for the 25-year-old, as quoted by Tuttosport:

“Nikola has the chops and talent but, in London, he didn’t perform as expected. Similarly to what had already happened at Everton. However, he did very well in the three-year period in Moscow with CSKA. He has to get back to those levels. It’s simply a question of mentality. We talked about it together. He already showed interesting things in Turin last season. Juric will polish him. I called him up for the World Cup in Qatar, where he played six games because I believe in him. With (Juric), Nikola will explode.”

That is quite the prediction from the Croatia manager isn’t it. Sure, he may well succeed in the more pedestrian paced Serie A.

That doesn’t mean that he will all of a sudden ‘explode’ into a world-beater though. Some players are just not suited to the intense nature of Premier League football and I believe that Vlasic is one of them.

David Moyes wasted a lot of money by bringing Nikola Vlasic to West Ham but hopefully it will serve as a big lesson for the Scot. Players need specific attributes to succeed in England.

And it was clear from the off that the Croatian just didn’t have the strength, physicality or pace required to be a hit in the Premier League.

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