Former Croatian international defender Marko Leskovic is the sixth foreigner of Kerala Blasters FC this season, thus wrapping up all the recruitment procedures for the 2021-22 Indian Super League season. The deal will mean he will play in the yellow fortress for one season.
STATS AND ANALYSIS OF MARKO LESKOVIC
The man from Nasice, Croatia, has had a bright career so far. His career was mostly centralized in Croatia. Everywhere he has touched, has turned into gold as Midas had. At a young age of 11, seeing his talent, NK Osijek swooped down like an eagle, to seize the player. He took the boots as professional player back in 2006, when he was promoted from NK Osijek youth team to the U-17 team. The management were so impressed by his performance that they gave him a promotion to the U-19 squad two years later. He was then loaned out to HNK Suhopolje from the main team of NK Osijek as a summer transfer, but returned to his club after a span of four and a half months. After serving NK Osijek for three seasons, he was transferred to HNK Rijeka, on a transfer fees of 37.49 million INR. That itself proves that he was a beast during that time. But two days later, he was loaned to his former club NK Osijek, which was quite surprising. He returned to HNK Rijeka, after his loan spell with NK Osijek came to an end. After playing for HNK Rijeka for three seasons, he was transferred to the Croat giants Dinamo Zagreb in 2016/17 season. The transfer fee was quite shocking, a mammoth 124.98 million INR. After serving for Zagreb for three years, he was then loaned to NK Lokomotiva in 2019/20 season. He returned back to Dinamo after the end of loan spell, but was again loaned to NK Lokomotiva in 2020/21 season. He returned back to Zagreb after the end of loan spell, but his contract with the club came to an end and he became a free agent.
Leskovic, who is well experienced, will be a huge asset to Kerala Blasters FC. The man, who has Europa League experience under his belt, will be the backbone of the backline. An experience of more than fifteen years is something which have impressed Blasters.
When he was playing for HNK Rijeka, he was called for Croatian senior team duty, where he clocked 354 minutes from four international friendly matches. He was also a part of Croatian U-18, U-19, U-20 and U-21 squads, where he played a total of 9 matches. For the U-21 team, he also had scored a goal.
Throughout his career, Leskovic has played a total of 220 matches and has clocked a total of 17,480 minutes. He was a regular starter of teams. Leskovic, who plays as a Left Centre-Back mainly, has played as a defensive midfielder very rarely, only on 13 occasions. He has scored a total of 16 goals throughout his career.
When we closely monitor his strength and weakness, we can give a conclusion that he has more strength zones and less weak zones. He is really good in aerial duals, as he is tall. He is also outstanding in closing down from behind, which will be crucial in Blasters’ point of view. Leskovic’s positioning has saved his team from conceding goals. Quality left footed crosses from Leskovic has resulted in counters against the opponent and has also ended in finding the back of the net. Leskovic’s passing accuracy is outstanding, and will be the key to tear the opponent defence from the middle.
He is weak in holding the ball in own half, which should be improved. He is also weak in dribbling. His height advantage sometimes becomes a headache for him, when he attempts for aerial duals. He has received a number of bookings from aerial duals. But, these stats doesn’t make Blasters disappointed as they’ve found a good Centre-Back for now.
THE MEETING BETWEEN IVAN AND MARKO
Kerala Blasters manager Ivan Vukomanovic and Marko Leskovic had met in the prestigious Europa League Group G Matchday 5 back in 2014-15 season. In a thrilling encounter of 90 minutes, Ivan Vukomanovic’s club Standard Liege succumbed to Marko Leskovic’s HNK Rijeka on a scoreline of 2-0, where he played till the Full Time.
CLUB’S EXPECTATIONS
With his addition, Kerala Blasters have filled up the vacancy on the position of their main Centre-Back. Last time, the main Centre-Back was the Zimbabwean Costa Nhamoinesu, where he failed to keep the expectations. This time, through Marko Leskovic, the club will be hoping to concede less, and will also be hoping to give his best.
Blasters’ Sporting Director Karolis Skinkys have put faith on Marko Leskovic. The man from Lithuania described Leskovic as “A high level defender who has come to Kerala Blasters with high motivation to perform well”. The fans are happy to see their new signing, and will be eagerly excited to see Leskovic playing for them.
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