Nikola Kalinic: Is He Really the Future of Croatian Football?

At Priestfield on Tuesday 25 August, League One side Gillingham FC played host to Premiership side Blackburn Rovers and their star-studded team of international players.

Whilst Gillingham may have lost 1-3, there was plenty to be excited about that evening, with all the top quality players Blackburn have, the return of ex-Gillingham keeper Jason Brown to Priestfield and of course, the return of Danny Jackman in a Gills shirt.

But another thing keen football followers might have been excited about was the fact that Blackburn's new signing Nikola Kalinic was making his first ever start for the club in the game against Gillingham.

To most, Kalinic is another one of those fancy foreign players that no one in England has ever heard of, but to the fans who also take an interest in the Premiership, this Croatian striker seems different from other foreigners to have played in the top flight.

For a start, he's only 21 years old and cost the Ewood Park club £6.4 million, which is quite a lot of money when you think that Simeon Jackson was a big money signing for the Gills with his whopping £150,000 price tag.

Although more importantly, Kalinic has won several caps through the ranks for Croatia, including two caps in the senior side, leading current Croatia manager Slaven Bilic to hail him as "the future of Croatian football." And this is exactly the point of my article: Is Nikola Kalinic really the future of Croatian football? Us Gills fans could well be qualified to answer that question, having seen the young striker first hand.

And in this case, the answer could actually be no. After missing a hat-trick of very decent goalscoring opportunities away at Sunderland two days before, Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce had high hopes for Kalinic, maybe even expecting him to get on the scoresheet.

However, once the game down in Kent had commenced, it was a different story altogether. Instead of tirelessly teasing and toying with the Gillingham defence, Kalinic found himself unable to break through the wall of Mark Bentley and Josh Gowling. Whenever the Croatian had the ball, no matter how deep into the Gills half he was, never could he get a shot on; he could only pass it out to the wings, or back to the midfield.

And when not in possession, the young Croatian again failed to sparkle. He was hardly ever picked out by his teammates, who always seemed to have better options on offer than him, and as for being an aerial threat, well, let's just say his fairly imposing figure never really caused much damage to the Gills.

The highly-rated striker's unspectacular first-half performance unsurprisingly culminated in him being taken off at half-time.

For a player who is meant to have a big impact in the Premiership, it does seem rather unconvincing that he is even struggling to threat League One defenders. But then again, when you have Mark Bentley and Josh Gowling at the heart of defence, it's not surprising that attackers struggle against them!

However, there is not just one side to every story, and this is the same.

In defence of Kalinic, his trip down to Gillingham was only his second football match in the English game, and lower league sides can always prove to be tricky for the top flight teams, so obviously he will need time to adjust, and getting goals out of him so early on in his Blackburn career can well be considered a bit too much to ask.

Also, let's be honest, Kalinic didn't have his hefty price tag for nothing, and nor has he played at all levels of the Croatian national team for nothing. Nikola Kalinic is highly-rated for a reason, having made his league debut aged only 17, and having won the Golden Boot in the Croatian top-flight with 26 goals for Hadjuk Split in the 2007-'08 season.

So there is definitely some justification in Slaven Bilic's words, but after seeing his poor showing down at the Gills, not many have reason yet to be convinced. As the cliché saying goes, time will tell as to whether he can live up to the expectation or not.

But for the 6,769 Gills fans inside the stadium, let's just hope he can live up to the hype. At least then we can say, “I saw the future of Croatian football with my very own eyes.”