The Hammers have confirmed the signing of ex-CSKA and Everton midfielder for a reported €30 million transfer fee on a five-year deal following his impressive performance for Croatia at Euro 2020.
“The talented 23-year-old arrives on a five-year deal from Russian Premier League club CSKA Moscow. The player has been extensively scouted and the creative attacker will add top-class quality and experience to David Moyes’ squad.
“Everyone at West Ham United would like to wish Nikola every success for his career in Claret and Blue.”
The Hammer’s statement read.
Vlasic is very dynamic in attack and apart from scoring goals, he also knows how to create them as well. Therefore he can be a very valuable addition to David Moyes’ unit. The 23-year-old becomes the third major signing this summer for United after the arrival of French goalkeeper Alphonse Areola from PSG and former Chelsea centre-back Kurt Zouma.
Vlasic started his career at Croatian lower division outfit NK Omladinac Vranjic in 2006 and was there initially for the first three years of his career. He joined Hajduk Split’s junior team in 2010 to continue his development as a footballer. It was in 2014 that he made his debut for Hajduk. Since then, Vlasic gradually grew in stature as a player and became one of their best players in the Croatian top division. He featured in 120 matches for the Split side before moving to Premier League outfit Everton in 2017.
However, his move to Merseyside was deemed as too high a jump. Hence, the midfielder featured for Everton’s second team in the Premier League 2. He failed to impress the bosses at Everton with his performances for the second team. So he spent the entire 2017-18 season plying his trade for the second team.
The Croat’s impressive displays in the Europa League for the Toffees meant that his performances were re-evaluated and finally, he made it to the senior team.
He made his Premier League debut in 2018 but only managed 12 appearances clocking around 574 minutes in the 2018-19 season. Overall it was a very forgetful experience for the Croatian youngster in Merseyside. Hence Vlasic was loaned out to Russia as he joined CSKA Moscow in 2018.
The young winger found his form in Russia as he was an instant hit at CSKA Moscow. He scored five goals and came up with as many assists in his first season at the club. He even scored three goals in the Champions League for the Russia outfit in six matches.
After a year-long loan, CSKA Moscow management decided to sign him permanently from Everton. The Toffees were also happy to let him go as he hardly had any impact at the Goodison Park.
Therefore in 2019, he was officially unveiled as a CSKA Moscow player. He bettered his numbers from the previous loan season as he scored 12 goals and provided five assists in the Russian Premier Liga. The Russian outfit acknowledged his exceptional performances as he was selected as their player of the season for the 2019-20 season.
He continued his top performance last season as well, netting 11 goals and mustered five assists from the flank. His exceptional goalscoring and creative prowess saw him feature in the Croatian national team for the European Championships.
The 23-year-old came on as a substitute in Croatia’s opening fixture against England. His biggest highlight was when he scored against Scotland in Croatia’s third group stage match at the Euros.
Vlasic scored the first goal in Croatia’s 3-1 win over the Scots. Vlasic started the subsequent knockout match against Spain but unfortunately, Croatia lost and were knocked out of the RO16.
