Whatever happened to Haris Vuckic?

Posted on May 10th, 2011 | 15 Comments |

Haris Vuckic. Newcastle United wonder-kid?
Needs to prove himself
Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has high praise for Haris Vuckic despite only having seem him play once.

You can tell it’s building up to silly season. The press already has Enrique at Liverpool, Barton at Birmingham, Tiote at Spurs and the entire team wearing the goalkeeper’s strip at away games.

I expect the summer will also consist of rumours about Ashley selling the club, Pardew being sacked, Keegan making a comeback and Llambias opening an owl sanctuary. It’s about par for the course.

Us bloggers really ought to sue the press for infringing on our jobs. Blogs are supposed to post rumour, speculation and gossip whereas the press are supposed to stick to reliable, confirmed news.

Thankfully The Sunday Sport made a return last weekend, so we might finally get some proper news. I was all for WWII bombers being found on the moon and everyone knows Elvis is alive and well and living in Grimsby.

Still, I digress. I expect the question most bothering you this morning is: what happened to Haris Vuckic? No? Well please yourselves, I’m going to talk about him anyway.

Touted as a new ‘wonderkid’, we’ve actually seen very little of him. He did play in a couple of League Cup matches under Chris Hughton but he’s been somewhat plagued by injury ever since. Pardew rates him though, saying:

I have only seen Haris once, in the Chelsea game in the Carling Cup.

I was there as a professional at the game and I was impressed with him. I made a note of him because I had never heard his name before.

Strange statement. A professional what? Anyway, Pardew continues:

He stood out that night, but unfortunately since I’ve been here he hasn’t kicked a ball because of his injury. He’s highly regarded here, particularly in the development squad by Peter Beardsley and Willie Donachie.

He’s somebody I’m looking forward to working with.

Vuckic himself has been talking to the press too, professing his preference to play for Slovenia rather than Bosnia:

The Premier League is a big jump for anyone my age. I have progressed from Academy to reserves and I want to go higher, but maybe it is better to take another smaller step. I don’t know.

I will talk with the manager and it will be up to him to decide what we do.

My family went from Bosnia to Slovenia during the war period.

They went to Slovenia before the war started – Bosnia was quite poor, things were not great there so they wanted a better life and went to Slovenia. Me and my brother were both born there.

I was born in Slovenia, grew up in Slovenia and was educated in Slovenia. Slovenia gave me everything.

I remembered this. The Bosnian FA called me to try and persuade me to play for them, but it is disrespectful to chose to play for them over Slovenia.

The country has given me everything in the world, so I have to pick them.

The rumour-mill will go into overdrive this summer and a lot of focus will be on who we bring in, but we shouldn’t forget some of the youngsters we’ve already got.

It’s always difficult to know when a youngster is ready for first-team football and you definitely don’t want to put them in too early, but if they are the talents they’re touted to be then they need a chance to prove it even if it’s only out as a loan player.

NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10). Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.

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15 Responses

  1. I think next season may be make or break for a few of the ‘prospects’ and we will probably see a few of them get farmed out on loan. After all, it never did players like David Beckham any harm to go and do a stint at a lower level.

  2. Seems we wont be playing Tiote in the last 2 games (due to the 14 yellows).. especially now Smith is back.
    FORGOTTEN midfielder Alan Smith is set to feature in the final two matches of the Premier League season after returning to full training with Newcastle yesterday.

    Personally I hope we get someone else in for next season to cover Tiote (maybe Reo-Coker on a free) as I think Smith is Tiote with worse pace, tackling, timing and reading of the play. In my opinion (especially on his wages) I would like to see him move on in the summer once a replacement is found.

    Anyone think Smithy should stay?

  3. aye i’d like smith to stay. i think he was one off our best plyers last season but tiote is better, so i’d offer smith new contract off 35k-40k a week and keep him for back up. he’s a true leader and some reason he seemed to play better as captain. what yous think?

  4. 35k-40k a week is still quite a lot for a backup player that is not getting any younger.
    I would prefer to get someone a bit younger in and more mobile that can challenge Tiote for his position and also play with Tiote when we need a more defensive midfield.
    We were linked with Victor Wanyama recently or leroy fer could potentially be a good buy.

  5. Smith should be the first to go. Frees up wages and a CL team may be happy to stump up a mil?

  6. Haris Vuckic is real quality. Unfortunatly he has had several injusries that have stalled his progress.

    Hopefully next season he can get a run in the 1st team squad and show his potential.

  7. @Doug
    Yeah I have really high hopes for this lad and hope he gets his chance to prove his worth. If he can show enough in pre-season maybe he can force his way into the team.
    I just hope that people dont over-hype him and make it impossible for him to achieve. We need to let him make steady progressions and then we will see how goo he can be.
    Definatley one to watch for next season!

  8. let smith go. he’s passed it here. fair enuff if he was on low wages and wasnt holding any young’uns back but he’s not a great player.

  9. aye maybe 35k-40k is a lot but he’s on something like 70k, so i don’t think he’ll take that big a pay cut. (toonyo) were talking about the same smith that tore up the championships last year. the player that came close enough to getting our player of the year, so remember that and give him a chance

  10. I see the bean counters are out in force as usual !
    Just when did everyone become more of an accountant than a judge of players abilities.
    Screw bean counting, there`s big bucks being earned @ NUFC this year, that plus a windfall from the AC deal.
    Lets spend some of it on rebuilding and enjoy a season of watching a competitive football by an entertaining side (hey Pardew said he wants to bring in flair players)
    So ! can we please leave out the comments in regard to what who would cost.
    After all Ashley is the fiftieth richest man in the UK,
    tons a dosh !