This is random, but I just want to take a moment to appreciate Brozovic. When we first signed him in the winter of that messy season, arriving at the airport with no fans around (compared to Podolski and Shaqiri) and all the pics of him with no smiles and the rumors of him failing the driving test few times, I’m sure many of us would believe he would half the players he is today, or dont think he would even survive here, despite knowing he had talent.
Yes he had talent and he was already a starter for Croatia and even played in the World Cup 2014. But knowing our history with young players, surrounded by mediocre players and coaches, we still didnt think he would succeed here. Roller coaster continued with him having no position at all, to him perfoming inconsistently, to the behavioral issues with de Boer, to him back as a starter with Pioli, then being benched again and rumored to leave several times, until Spalletti found him the best position, to me that’s Spalletti’s most improtant thing he did for us after qualifying for the CL twice. It’s crazy how he developed and slowly became our most important player in the team.
I dont know about you guys but I never thought he would be even half of the player he is today, at least for us. Not perfect and still concentration issues, but he is more than enough to lead us to the next stage. He is world class and I’m glad he progressed this way at Inter.
Hope this post wont jinx him tough.