Football: several CEE player among UEFA.com ‘raising stars
Three Croats, three Ukrainians, two Serbs and two Romanians
02 January, 18:43On the list, the 20-years old Croatian Josip Brekalo, playing for Wolfsburg, "a senior international with Croatia scoring increasingly regularly in the Bundesliga," but also Luka Ivanusec (20, Lokomotiva Zagreb), "the youngest-ever scorer for Croatia at 18", a highly-rated "midfielder" that "has been on song with his nation's U21 side," UEFA wrote. Under the lens also Nikola Moro (20, Dinamo Zagreb), followed by big European clubs "before he sustained a serious injury; expect the attention to continue now he is back." Among the Romanians raising stars, Ionut Radu (21, Genoa) e Ianis Hagi (20), captain of the Viitorul, "the club owned and coached by his father, Gheorghe Hagi", a player with "some of his father's attacking verve." Very promising according to UEFA.com also the Serbian young players Luka Jovic (21, Eintracht), with "double figures in the Bundesliga", and Nikola Milenković (21, Fiorentina).
Three players from Ukraine are also in the top-50 list: Andriy Lunin (19), goalkeeper on loan from Real Madrid to Leganes, the left-back Vitaliy Mykolenko (19, Dynamo Kyiv) and the playmaker Mykola Shaparenko (20, Dynamo Kyiv), capped four times in 2018. (ANSA).