Haris Vuckic: One for the now?

Posted on July 27th, 2011 | 40 Comments |

Haris Vuckic taking a shot.
Haris Vuckic - potential star?
Haris Vuckic: a name that top teams all across Europe were screaming out for. Trials with AC Milan, an interest from Manchester United and it was Newcastle United who landed his signature – a 16 year old Slovenian wonderkid.

Given his recent problems with injuries and fitness, a lot of people questioned whether or not “wonderkid” was a foregone conclusion and if he really is as good as he was touted to the fans. Haris, however, is taking all of that in his stride and during the three game tour of America, he is trying to change that.

A lot of 18 year olds at clubs tend to be fairly scrawny – their body waiting to fill out properly. Haris, on the other hand, has a frame that you would expect to find on a 25 year old midfielder – and he plays like one too.

Many of us may have seen the young lad play at reserve level and will know how he plays – direct, powerful, fast. During the friendly against Orlando City, we saw him taking heed of Jose Enrique’s advice whilst on the bench and pick the pocket of players advancing down the flank; jogging behind them only to casually nip off with the ball with a sudden burst of speed, agility and skill.

In the same game we also saw him being denied a perfectly legitimate goal.

However, the final game of the US tour against Columbus Crew (who are not a gang, how many times do I have to tell you this?) in which we won 3-0, Haris set the record straight once again. He curled the ball from the left corner of the box into the top left corner of the net – a display in both finesse and power.

Talking to the Chronicle yesterday, the starlet had this to say:

“My game plan is to get goals. I hope to do that if I get the chance against Columbus; I am an offensive player and can get the goals.”

“I thought I had scored, and I have seen the replay and it was not offside. It was unlucky for me, but the fans were getting a tough time off the ref. I still feel happy because I have played a game and scored so in the mind I feel stronger – even though it hasn’t counted. It is different when you know it was a good goal.”

The lad certainly doesn’t lack for confidence, and John Carver also talked about the 18 year old:

“It’s a big season for Haris this year. Obviously I’d never seen him play until when I arrived after Christmas but I thought he did extremely well at Darlington. It was his first senior game since the injuries. He is technically very good. He is another plus.”

Expect to see a lot more of him this year if he can keep his fitness levels up and his injury record down – this lad truly is a star in the making.

NUFCBlog Author: Thump Some say his bones are black and white but that is yet to be medically proven. Currently writes for a few different publications and likes to assert his imaginary authority on nobody in particular. Beware: eats children. Thump has written 36 articles on this blog.

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Comment on this post

40 Responses

  1. The only probleme he has is the amount of bodies we currently have in his position, he’s going to to fight it out with players like HBA, Cabaye, Gosling, Gutherie, Tiote etc etc but I wish him luck & hope he gets enough time on the pitch to stop him wanting to leave…. :)

  2. Toon69,

    Hi disagree mate, I think his best position is a second striker and would be a very good backup to HBA.

  3. Haris have a great future , but still we need some young talents like him..if our scouts go to countries like France there are players that will stun u…I still disagree with our youth policy…for the last 9 years we haven’t had a good product from the academy ..last one was jermain jeans who we sold to spurs mr souness great idea!!.( tnx for noting)…bak to my point we need to give players chance ..look how many youth players we release ….almost all…the only players that are going to be inthe XI next year which are our products are s.Taylor and t.krul..and I dont c the reason why our scours are soooo blind ..look at fulham they just got this players from palermo ..incredible skill, excellent long vision.and still 19..for 2 mil..

  4. I’m not sure how good your memory is Henok, we signed Jenas from Nottingham Forest when he was still a teenager.

  5. And he was transfer listed by request after saying that Newcastle is a goldfish bowl.

    Oh, also a lot of clubs release youth players. It’s not nice but it happens from time to time – that’s just how it works, I’m afraid. If you can tell me a player we’ve released who was on a youth contract who was snapped up by a big club and made a great career for themselves, I’d like to know about it. Most of them go to Blue Square or lower.

  6. Yes definitely start him as striker.

    Just at first.

    David Moyes is brilliant at giving really young players time on the pitch and always pushes them further forward. It takes pressure off them if they make mistakes.

    Why Kuqi got time on the pitch and not Ranger or Airey I don’t know.
    I hope Pardew has the stones to play our youngsters.

  7. Henok – errm – and what about Abeid? Is he not a young talent from abroad? Where did Moyo and Kadar come from?
    And are Ferguson, Vuckic, and perhaps Tavernier not progressing? I’d be happy to see them making the bench and getting minutes on the pitch when appropriate. But it has to be earned and we have to avoid opening them up to “crucifixion” in the wrong game which can knock back a young player. (I won’t mention Andy Carroll as a another product of the academy or Charles Nzogbia, Seb Bassong as cheap young “steals” from abroad). Doing better with youngsters than we did in the days of KK or even (bless him) SBR.

  9. In the past our youth players didn’t get a look in because of the previous administration’s policy of buying high priced marquee signings. Today more through luck than judgement the youngsters are getting a chance…hopefully they will fill in the holes left by the lack of transfer activity.

  10. Mentioned the other day I’ve had a chance to see a bit more than most of Vuckic recently and he is really looking like the genuine article. Some of his runs and shots at goal have been great to watch.

    And the kid’s huge! It almost looks out of place to see such a tall, young lad still being so technically skilled in the middle of the park.

    Imo he’s definitely in the ‘one for now’ bracket. Given half a chance this season he’ll make a real impact I think.

  11. Players from academy who have stepped up. S taylor. Andy carrol (who’s fee pays for all the players let go cost), t krul, fraser foster. Shane furgusen s ameobi . These r players who have played a few games for the first team.

  13. What about that swedish wonderkid nufc youngster his a foward/winger and now1 mention him

  14. What about that swedish wonderkid nufc youngster his a foward/winger and now1 mention him samuel adjei?

  15. Erm… did we not get N’zogbia as a 17 yt old from Le Havre and what about Carroll all £36m.of him.
    So why are they not still with us? buy cheaper, younger and better.
    But most important, the retailers mantra, make a nice profit.
    Is this the future we have to look forward too, no silverware but a steady profit.
    Hey face it we are an unseperateable part of Ashleys retailing empire, get used to it !

  16. I agree with Visten @ 2 that Haris should play in the first two games of the season in Arfa’s position whilst Arfa is out injured.

    No player at the club comes anywhere near the ability of Ben Arfa in the position operating behind the striker but out of those very few that could temporarily fill the position I would go for Vuckic.

  17. I,m reading we are about to sign a 29 yr. old midget from Spurs, guess we gave up on his beanpole partner.
    Some crazy shit in the news these days.
    A poor attempt to gee up the nickel and dimeing over Erdinc, same thing going on with Enrique, with clubs known to want him, threatening to sign others and making things uncomfortable for both fans and players.
    Brinkmanship stuff, probably over pennies.
    Then there was the threat of getting rid of Colo. hell we know he’s on around £80k per week and no ones gonna pay him that, some bullshit eh ?
    But the colums have to be filled out each day, both here and in the rags, getting a bit fed up with the whole shebang, enough already !

  18. Er…Hasn’t a fee been agreed over Erdinc?
    It’s down to the player/agent.
    If so many teams ‘want’ Jose, where are they?
    Why is he still here?
    Colo ain’t going to valencia & i doubt he’s on £80k too.
    But, that said, it’s all ragloid speculation, so believe what you want i guess.

  19. The gamesmanship / brinkmanship with Enrique is that teams will wait until the final day of the transfer window before making a low bid hoping that we will feel that it is better to accept something, albeit low, than letting him go later in the year for nothing.

    I think we will sign Erdinc, probably next week. A fee has been agreed and presumbly personal terms too. According to the press (probably NUFC press office), it’s just the agent fee that is holding things up but given that PSG are appear to be adding players at a rate of knots it doesn’t look too good for Erdinc at the French club.

  20. Also let Shearer slip through our fingers after offering him a trail, then Southampton snapped him up.

  23. Good win for the lads last night.
    From what i saw Gosling played well.
    Pleased for the lad.

  24. definitely should be a backup to HBA in the dropped striker role. finally getting a chance to show his talent and hopefully we’ll see more of him this season.
    another one who has totally impressed on the USA tour was Abeid. all the talk was that he was “one for the future” but he was nothing but energy everytime he came on. got stuck into tackles, could move the ball around, and break up the play and start the attack. Perfect backup for Cabaye or Tiote. one to keep an eye on this season for sure.

  25. After seeing Haris do his thing this summer, I would definitely like to see him get more game time. Has plenty of skill, strength, and an eye for goal

  26. Abeid is more of a winger than a central player I think. He has plenty of pace and flair. Loves running at players! Definitely good back up for Jonas and marveaux

  28. Henok says:
    July 27, 2011 at 7:55 am

    “Haris have a great future , but still we need some young talents like him..if our scouts go to countries like France there are players that will stun u”

    And where do many of those players in France come from Henock?

    Africa. Not as many X-Boxes, not as many PCs, just lots of very talented bairns kicking footballs every spare moment they get and dreaming of making it in Europe one day.

  29. Workyticket@28 – “And where do many of those players in France come from Henock?

    Africa. Not as many X-Boxes, not as many PCs, just lots of very talented bairns kicking footballs every spare moment they get and dreaming of making it in Europe one day.”

    You’ve just described why there is a dearth of decent english youngsters, perhaps even european youngsters, not just youngsters at Newcastle. That and the me, me, me attitude that many players and all agents seem to have has had such an effect that when you look at some games, it’s like watching an international game not a domestic league game.

  30. Starkadder,
    i was just looking at River Plate’s squad, all but 2 Argentinean.
    Sometimes we ‘give up on’ our kids coming through way too quick.
    Not saying they’d all make it, but some would, & letting them slip down the leagues & losing the will to play must be tough to come back from.
    There are plenty of eg’s of us letting players slip through our fingers, only to sign ’em back for big money once they’ve had to prove themselves somewhere else first.
    It would save a lot of money & we’d have a few more locals playing for us. Same with other clubs too no doubt.

  31. CLiNT, I know what you mean.

    I don’t know for sure because Agrentina, Brazil, Mexico etc., isn’t quite the same as Africa, but I suspect they haven’t gox the X-Box/Facebook/Me, me, me culture that you find in Europe and the US.

    If you come from nowt, and you’ve got nowt, often the only way you can get out of that situation is to use the only talents you have to play football, box or compete in some other sport.

    Most kids now will just get their Ma’s to buy them the latest version of Call of Duty or threaten to have them up in front of social services for depriving them!

    I find it sad overall, but depressingly so in areas like the North East where it never used to exist at all.

    Guess I’m just a sad auld bugg3r.

  32. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    July 27, 2011 at 6:33 pm

    “Sometimes we ‘give up on’ our kids coming through way too quick.”

    Clint, not as many of them play football now, they prefer to play Football Manager on their machine and become obese instead. Even when they do, they are frequently faced with a dearth of open spaces because they’ve all been built on by Tesco. It’s a bit like the economic cycle that countries go through, they rise, then become decadent and are eventually are overtaken by other societies who are hungrier.

    Guess I’m just a sad auld bugger.

  33. Mate,
    it probably doesn’t help that thatcher sold off all the playing fields in the 80’s & the ‘no ball games’ signs, hey?
    Brazil ( as one of the B.R.I.C countries) is booming, so it could happen to them soon. Which would slow ’em down a little on the footie front. :)
    But, young players wanna play, so ‘move on’, probably too early. Plus clubs see them as ‘natural wastage’, until they come back with someone else & bite their ass.
    :)

  35. Aye,
    there are a lot more ‘fatties’ & ‘square eyes’ these days.
    Plus parents are scared to let their bairns gan oot to play of an evening.
    At least they should have strong thumbs though.
    :)

  36. Looks like the media invented ‘defoe deal’ is dead as a dodo before it even grew wings.
    It was never gonna get off the ground.
    Yes, i know it was a flightless bird.
    :)
    Not worth £10m, half it maybe.

  37. Skinaldo @8

    Carrick was never a Newcastle player to be let go. He was scouted young by west ham and went there straight from school mate.

  38. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    July 27, 2011 at 6:57 pm

    “Mate,
    it probably doesn’t help that thatcher sold off all the playing fields in the 80′s & the ‘no ball games’ signs, hey?”

    Aye Clint, but Blair carried it on, and even changed the definitions to hide the full scale of the sell offs.

  39. Chuck said:

    Is this the future we have to look forward too, no silverware but a steady profit.

    I’m not overly convinced that future is a bad thing…we’ve proved in the past we can’t win trophies & progressively get into more & more debt putting the club on the verge of being financially fcuked. Yeah we had some good years but more medicore years.

  40. worky,
    maybe mate,
    but blair was a nice , fluffy, pussycat compared to thatcher’s vile creature.
    :)