Nikola Kalinic

Nikola Kalinic (Croatian pronunciation: [nikola kalinitɕ]; born 5 January 1988) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Italian club Hellas Verona.

Kalinic began his career with Hajduk Split in his native Croatia before moving to English club Blackburn Rovers for £6 million in 2009. After scoring rarely in two Premier League seasons, he left for Ukrainian side Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, helping them reach the 2015 UEFA Europa League Final. He then played in Serie A for Fiorentina and A.C. Milan, before signing for Spanish club Atletico Madrid ahead of the 2018–19 season, winning the 2018 UEFA Super Cup.

Kalinic made his debut for Croatia in 2008 and represented the nation at three UEFA European Championships. He was part of their side that came runners-up at the 2018 FIFA World Cup but was sent home after one game.

Club Career

Early career

Born in Split, Kalinic began his playing career at Hajduk Split. He made his Prva HNL debut in the 2005–06 season at age 17. On 1 August 2006, he was sent on loan to Pula Staro Cesko (now Istra 1961) to receive more first-team action. In his loan time at Pula, he had a slow but fair start considering his young age. Despite not playing all too regularly in a short single season with them, he still managed to adapt and find goalscoring form, scoring 3 goals in 12 league appearances.

Kalinic's first goals in the Prva HNL came in the 2–0 victory against Kamen Ingrad on 23 September 2006 as he scored a brace to give his side the victory. Upon ending his short time at Pula, manager Krunoslav Jurcic was largely impressed with him, stating he could become the next Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Despite his intentions to stay at Pula, Kalinic returned to Hajduk and was immediately sent out on loan to Sibenik, where he saw occasional first team action and immediately impressed with all-round performances and a goal-scoring ability, scoring three goals in eight appearances.

Hajduk Split