West Ham United have been reported to be linked with 17-year-old Croatian midfielder Andrija Balic by The People.
Slaven Bilic and the board will have to work hard to seal some ambitious summer signings before the start of the Hammers Europa League campaign which is due to begin in July and it seems Bilic is set to look closer to home.
Dubbed ‘the new Luka Modric’, Andrija Balic quickly sprung onto the footballing scene playing at every youth level of international football and in his first season for Croatian first league side, Hajduk Split, managed to score 5 in 15 league appearances for the club finishing a respectable 3rd at the end of last season.
The Croatian defensive midfielder has been watched closely but London rivals Tottenham and Chelsea over the course of 2 seasons and the player has also had a bid of £500,000 rejected by Split from Ajax at the end of the 2014 season.
The Croatian side are looking for an offer within the region of £4.5 mil to tempt the club to sell the midfielder but the teenager is keeping his feet firmly grounded, “I have a new contract, I’m glad Hajduk believe in me. I’d like to stay while I’m still growing as a player, and then, we’ll see.”
West Ham may have to wait for the midfielder, but with the new manager’s background with the Croatian international side, maybe ‘the new Luka Modric’ could be persuaded to join next season?
