Aston Villa must be devastated by Lovre Kalinic’s development

Add as preferred source on Google

When England took on Croatia at Wembley this afternoon many fans would have been surprised not to see Monaco stopper Danijel Subasic in between the sticks for the visiting side. The World Cup stopper retired from international duty after the tournament in Russia. Instead, Croatia now rely on Lovre Kalinic between the sticks.

He had a fairly impressive game for his nation and it continues his growing reputation from success with his club Gent.

In fact, his form has even seen him linked with a move to the Premier League this weekend. As reported by The Sun On Sunday (18/11/2018; pg 65) Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Watford are all keen on the 28-year-old stopper.

Which surely comes as a sickener for Aston Villa.

Back in January 2016, it looked like Aston Villa had signed the player. The giant goalkeeper had been in talks with Villa for some time and the Daily Mail reported that a £4.9 million fee had been agreed between Villa and his club, Hajduk Split.

It soon emerged however that Kalinic would not be making the move. As reported by Index, Kalinic did not have the requisite qualifications to be eligible for a work permit to play football in the UK.

That summer Aston Villa signed Italian Pierluigi Gollini and have not outright owned a solid goalkeeping option. That has been made evident by the displays of new arrival Orjan Nyland this summer, with loanee Sam Johnstone heading to West Brom instead.

Based on his current form and the teams chasing his signature, Aston Villa must wish they could have secured a work permit for the Croatian in 2016.