| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 10 January 1992 | ||
| Place of birth | Zadar, Croatia | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Playing position | Right back | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Dinamo Zagreb | ||
| Number | 14 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2009– | Dinamo Zagreb | 45 | (2) |
| 2009 | → Lokomotiva (loan) | 17 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2007 | Croatia U-15 | 5 | (1) |
| 2007–2009 | Croatia U-17 | 16 | (2) |
| 2010 | Croatia U-18 | 1 | (0) |
| 2010 | Croatia U-19 | 6 | (0) |
| 2010– | Croatia U-21 | 5 | (0) |
| 2011– | Croatia | 3 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 December 2011. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Šime Vrsaljko (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈʃiːmɛ̂ vrːˈsaːʎkɔ]; born 10 January 1992) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays for Dinamo Zagreb, the Croatia national under-21 and Croatia football teams. His preferred position is right back, but he can easily play as a left one too, making him a very versatile player.
Vrsaljko is considered as one of the most talented Croatian footballers, with some rating him to have greater potential than Luka Modrić who, like Vrsaljko, grew up in Zadar and came through Dinamo Zagreb's youth ranks.[1][2]
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Vrsaljko started his senior career at Dinamo Zagreb feeder team Lokomotiva, where he went on loan for the 2009–10 season. He debuted for Lokomotiva in Croatian league match against HNK Rijeka on 26 July 2009 at the age of 17.[3] Vrsaljko started in every of the seventeen Lokomotiva's league matches in 2009, being substituted only on one occasion before the end of the ninety minutes.[4] He returned to Dinamo Zagreb on 22 December 2009 before the squad went on winter break. Vrsaljko played his first match for Dinamo Zagreb on 27 February 2010 against Croatia Sesvete in Prva HNL. He made nine more appearances by the end of the season for Dinamo Zagreb, making a total of 27 league appearances throughout the whole season. Vrsaljko also made one appearance in the semi-finals of the 2009–10 Croatian Cup.[4][5]
Vrsaljko missed the opening matches of the 2010–11 season, as he was called-up for international duties with the Croatian under-19 team. He made his first appearance of the season on 31 July in a league match against Rijeka which Dinamo Zagreb lost 2–1. Vrsaljko then made his debut in a European competitions, featuring in a 6–5 defeat against Sheriff Tiraspol after a penalty shootout in a third qualifying round of the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League.[4] During the August, he was linked with a transfer to Olympique Marseille for a fee of €4 million, but the executive vice-president of the club Zdravko Mamić refused the offer of the French club.[6] On 29 August he scored his first official goal for the club in a league match against Cibalia which Dinamo Zagreb won 2–0.[7]
He received his first call to Croatia national football team on 2 November 2010 for Euro 2012 qualifier against Malta. He made a national team debut on February 9, 2011 in a friendly match versus Czech Republic.
| Club performance | League | Cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Croatia | League | Croatian Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
| 2009–10 | Lokomotiva | Prva HNL | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| Dinamo Zagreb | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | ||
| 2010–11 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 14 | 2 | ||
| 2011–12 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 20 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 46 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 62 | 2 | ||
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