If the recent reports from The Telegraph are to be believed, Slaven Bilic is set to offer £8m to land Dinamo Zagreb winger Mislav Orsic after a late-night transfer summit at the Hawthorns.
It seems that the Croatian gaffer wants to add more firepower to give West Brom’s promotion bid a bit of a boost and the 27-year-old forward could be just what the doctor ordered.
Who the heck is that?! Can you name all of these obscure West Brom players…
The same report states that the Albion head coach was locked in talks with chief executive Mark Jenkins and Luke Dowling, the club’s technical director, until late hours after the recent home defeat to Stoke.
They appear to agree that reinforcements are needed and with 19 goals and five assists across all competitions in 2019/20 – including four goals and an assist in the Champions League – Orsic looks like a great buy.
But who exactly is he and what could he bring to the Championship promotion hopefuls?
Let’s see what’s been said about the potential new recruit…
Index.hr
Index are one of the most reputable sources for all kinds of news in Croatia and they have been pretty vocal when it comes to the 27-year-old Dinamo Zagreb winger.
They have praised him for both his offensive and defensive outputs and highlighted some of his best traits, including his ability to make a difference in tight spaces and having a keen sense for a pass.
Here’s what they said in full in one of their reports:
“Orsic arrived at Dinamo as a typical pacy winger. Thanks to his speed, he exploited space that Bjelica’s transitional football had to offer. Today, Orsic is a much more complete player.
“He’s able and willing to perform defensive tasks as well as double down on the wings. He developed a keen sense for a pass in the final third of the pitch and is generally much diverse in the solutions he offers. He’s capable of making a difference in tight spaces but is still much more effective when given some breathing room. Bjelica used him as a second-striker against Atalanta in the Champions League and that resulted in the game of his life.
“Then, he showed how well he can use the space in front of the goal and how lethal he is.”
Net.hr
Another Croatian outlet who have dissected Orsic’s player profile is Net.hr.
Similarly to the report above, they emphasise that the 27-year-old forward is someone who’s well capable of unlocking the opposition’s defence and is also happy to combine with his teammates.
You can see an extract from their analysis in the quote below:
“Orsic is an extremely grateful and brilliant winger whose characteristics are emphasised when it comes to breaching the opposition’s block and teamwork. But he’s also really responsible in terms of his defensive contribution so he can often be deployed as a wing-back or a winger that plays both ways. Orsic can be described as someone willing to cooperate with his teammates because he knows that’s the only way to emphasise his own repertoire and that makes him a great transitional player in the attacking phase.
“He loves to combine with his teammates and do skilful combinations since he’s heavily reliant on his pace, which often means he ends up being the one with the ball in front of the opposition’s goal. Moreover, Orisc is an incredibly useful player when pressing, which is a tactic [Zlatko] Dalic insists on with players that can run a lot.
“But, the thing that makes Orsic so dangerous is his sheer hunger, as was evidenced by his rocky path to the national team and to glory.”
Nenad Bjelica, Dinamo Zagreb manager
Finally, we should take note of the words coming from Dinamo Zagreb and Orsic’s current coach Nenad Bjelica, who is largely responsible for turning the winger into the player he is today.
When speaking about the 27-year-old star after the Zagreb Blues’ astonishing victory over Atalanta, which included a hat-trick from the player in question, his gaffer was unsurprisingly full of praise.
Here’s what he said, as quoted by Birmingham Mail:
“He talks with his goals. That’s one very honest guy who is sacrificing himself for the team.
“Mislav is a Zagreb boy who has had a very difficult journey, and by his own merit he has arrived at this level.”
Verdict
Bilic seems to have recognised the talent behind Orsic and judging by the reports the media have been producing on the player, he looks like the real deal.
Needless to say, snatching him up could be a major scoop for West Brom.
