Alen Halilovic will turn 18 in June and yet, for many in his country, it seems as if he has been around for ages. Last week, when Barcelona finally confirmed that the young Dinamo Zagreb prodigy will join them in the summer, one of the sentiments back in Croatia was relief.
That was not because people there do not rate the 17-year-old, who had been linked with just about every major European club, and were only too happy to see the back of him. As almost anyone who has seen him play will testify, Halilovic really has that something special about him and could become one of the best players in the world in the coming years.
No, it was just that the matter of his leaving had become a saga. It was always clear that he would leave Dinamo before making his true mark on the pitch for the club. In fact, the rumours about Halilovic started when he was 14 or 15. The club's chief executive, Zdravko Mamic, claims he personally "took him off the truck heading to Madrid", where the player's father Sejad, the former Bosnia and Herzegovina international, "had everything agreed with Atlético and they were moving to their new home there ... but I stopped the family in front of the customs office at the Croatian border and talked them into returning".
Dinamo, of course, used every opportunity they could get to fuel the 'Halilovic Hype', as selling their most promising players for big money is what they do best these days. Last year the midfielder Mateo Kovacic was 18 when he joined Internazionale for €11m; the defender Tin Jedvaj was even younger than Halilovic is now when Roma signed him for €5m.
"I'm fully aware of how pretentious this may sound," Dinamo's director of football, Zoran Mamic, who is now also their head coach (and, incidentally, the brother of the club's controversial executive director Zdravko), told the Spanish Canal+ in 2012. "But he's a Messi-type player if there ever was one."
Part of the problem is that Halilovic has arguably been pushed too hard and too early, already playing for the senior squad at 16 and becoming the second-youngest player ever to appear in the Champions League (after Anderlecht's Celestine Babayaro in 1994). In June last year he even made his full international debut for Croatia in a friendly against Portugal – he was not even a starter for Dinamo back then. He is still not expected to make Croatia's World Cup squad.
And then there were the attempts to lure him to London by Tottenham Hotspur (and, reportedly, Arsenal) last summer, that allegedly collapsed because Halilovic's father wanted his son to gain proper experience before moving to a big club and felt Alen was not yet ready. He then claimed the Dinamo executives had not talked to him for two months because his rejection of the move had cost the club €15m.
Tall story: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, right, towers over Dinamo Zagreb's Alen Halilovic, then aged just 16, after a Champions League group stage game in October 2012. Photograph: Srdjan Vrancic/CROPIX
In the end Dinamo got only €2.2m from Barça, though they could receive much more in instalments for every 10 games Halilovic plays for the Catalans. But by the time the deal came close to fruition it was not Dinamo's call any more.
The club have always had a policy of binding their brightest young talents to long-term contracts so they can get the best deals when they are selling them. However, Halilovic, aware that he was one of the most sought-after young players in Europe, was never going to sign a long-term deal. In the end the player had a valid contract only until the summer; he could have left for free in a few months.
That is, for what it is worth, the path chosen by another young Dinamo prospect, Robert Muric, who has been linked with Manchester United among others. He does not even train with the team any more. The Halilovic family, however, felt they should give something more back to the club that developed the player and that he should not leave the club without proper compensation. But the decision on where to go was fully Halilovic's. He only ever wanted Barça, his father later revealed.
So what can Barcelona and their fans expect from the 17-year-old and what kind of a player is he? Well, he is not the "next Luka Modric" – he may resemble the Real Madrid star with his diminutive stature and blond hair but his style is much more direct and attacking.
Another player Halilovic has been compared to is Bayern's Arjen Robben – and, when Dinamo (mis)use him on the right wing, his efforts often look like a compilation of the Dutch master's early years insomuch as he often looks to dribble past one opponent only to crash into the next and bounce off him, not passing the ball under any circumstances. His defensive play needs a lot of work, too.
References to Manchester City's David Silva and Barça's own Andrés Iniesta have also been made but that is not quite right either. He looks much more natural when fielded more centrally and his characteristics suggest he might be able to assume an even more attacking role in the future. Halilovic has that ability that only the very best players possess: his ability to see everything a few moments before everyone else is breathtaking.
He is also capable of finding just the right moment to enter the penalty box – what the Spanish call llegada. He has an excellent first touch, a killer pass and a superb left-footed shot – be it rockets from the edge of the box or those soft chips that go just over the keeper.
A "Messi-type", then? Well, if there ever was one ... Halilovic will never be that good and probably no one will be. But the Blaugrana just may have found themselves a very decent understudy for the great Argentinian.
Aleksander Holiga is a Croatian football writer. Follow him on Twitter here.
