Whatever happened to Haris Vuckic?
Posted on May 10th, 2011 | 15 Comments |
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.
Llambias with an owl scantuary. ill pay a visit.