New talented player: Mateo Kovacic

Mateo Kovacic

Club:Dinamo Zagreb
Nationality:Croatia
Age:17
Height:1.73 m / 5.68 ft
Weight:65 kg / 143 lbs
Position:Attacking mid(C)


Mateo Kovacic – the Croatian Lionel Messi

When Mateo Kovacic was only 13, playing for Austrian side Lask Linz`s academy, his extraordinary talent was already spotted by some top European clubs. Bayern Munich, Juventus and Ajax tried to lure his family in order to land the wizkid, and VFB Stuttgart even offered his father a well paid job in Mercedes.


But Mateo wanted to play for his beloved Dinamo Zagreb , father Stipo wanted to live in the Croatian capital saying "Drinking coffee there is worth much more than thousands of Euros", and the rest is history. The family left Austria, and Dinamo put their hands on this great asset, a gifted playmaker who is soon to pay dividends.

Some 3 years later, aged 16 years and 198 days, Kovacic became the youngest player and scorer in the history of the Croatian top league, Prva NHL (watch the video below). About this time he made his debut for the Croatian U-17 side, and its coach, Martin Novosalek, was quoted saying that he hasn't seen a youngster with so much talent since the days of the former Croat superb playmaker, Robert Prosinecki.
After 7 appearances throughout last season, in 2011/12 Kovacic became a regular first team player with Dinamo, for whom he scored 4 goals and delivered 2 assists in 14 domestic matches so far in his short career. He also played twice for the Croatian U-20 team. But in the case of this starlet, dubbed as "The Croatian Lionel Messi" by local pundits due to his technical abilities, a look at the statistics – which are not bad at all - hardly tells the story.