Nikola Vlasic turned his loan move permanent at CSKA Moscow in the summer of 2019 after struggling for form and playing time at Everton. Not everyone was happy to see the 23-year-old leave, however, and questioned whether the club had made the right decision given the brief glimpses of promise Vlasic showed.
The Croatian international has been rejuvenated in Moscow and Sportske Novosti (h/t Sport Witness) say he could be set for a €30m (£27.1m) move away from the Russian Premier League, twice the price he was sold for and three times the amount we paid back three years ago.
Sportske Novosti say Everton are hurting from the error of judgement, but could we really have predicted his rise to prominence?
What went wrong at Everton?
We paid £9.7m to sign Vlasic from Hajduk Split in 2017 and he went on to make 19 appearances in all competitions, scoring two goals.
Under Ronald Koeman (14 June, 2016 – 23 October, 2017), he made 8/10 appearances (564/900 minutes) but managed only one goal for his troubles.
Under David Unsworth (24 October, 2017 – 30 November, 2017), he made 4/8 appearances (62/720 minutes) and was briefly demoted to the reserves.
Under Sam Allardyce (30 November, 2017 – 16 May, 2018), he made only 7/26 appearances (390/2340 minutes) and spent the majority of his time out of the matchday squad, so the writing was on the wall.
The 23-year-old flattered to deceive under three managers and found himself low down the pecking order, so he was loaned out to CSKA (August 15, 2018 – June 30, 2019) the following campaign.
Successful loan spell at CSKA led to permanent deal
Vlasic got off to a slow start in Russia (one goal in his first seven league appearances and one assist in his first 11 league appearances), but he eventually found his feet and ended 2018/19 with eight goals and seven assists from 31 appearances across the board. CSKA promptly signed him on a five-year deal and he hasn’t looked back.
The Croatian international made 38 appearances in all competitions in 2019/20, scoring 13 goals with seven assists. This season, he’s already scored six goals and made five assists in 12 games for CSKA, so his future looks bright.
Vlasic is now the one that got away.
In other news, how is Moise Kean getting on at Paris Saint-Germain?