Vedran Ćorluka

Vedran Ćorluka

Ćorluka with Lokomotiv Moscow in 2012
Personal information
Full name	Vedran Ćorluka[1]
Date of birth	(1986-02-05) 5 February 1986
Place of birth	Derventa, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Lokomotiv Moscow
Number	14
Youth career
	Dinamo Zagreb
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2003–2007	Dinamo Zagreb	61	(7)
2004–2005	→ Inter Zaprešić (loan)	27	(4)
2007–2008	Manchester City	38	(1)
2008–2012	Tottenham Hotspur	81	(1)
2012	→ Bayer Leverkusen (loan)	7	(0)
2012–	Lokomotiv Moscow	45	(2)
National team‡
2002	Croatia U16	7	(2)
2002–2003	Croatia U17	11	(1)
2003	Croatia U18	3	(0)
2004–2005	Croatia U19	12	(4)
2005–2006	Croatia U21	9	(0)
2006–	Croatia	70	(4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 7 December 2013. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 20 November 2013

Vedran Ćorluka (pronounced [ʋědran t͡ɕǒrluka]; born 5 February 1986) is a Croatian footballer who plays for Lokomotiv Moscow and the Croatia national team. He plays as a centre-back, though he has played in various other positions across the defensive line, most notably as the right-back.

Ćorluka graduated from the Dinamo Zagreb Youth Academy, before making his professional debut for Dinamo Zagreb in 2003. In 2007, he made a £8 million move to English Premier League club Manchester City. In August 2008, on transfer deadline day, he signed with another Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. Internationally, Ćorluka represented Croatia at various youth levels before making his first team debut in August 2006, in the friendly match against world champions Italy. Since then, he has represented the country at UEFA Euro 2008 and UEFA Euro 2012.

Club career

Early days

Ćorluka was born in Derventa, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia. His parents, Jozo and Anđa come from Modran, a village near Derventa. Due to the civil war in Bosnia, in 1992 the family moved to Zagreb, Croatia where his father still workes as an engineer besides being Ćorluka's manager. His mother is a judge. Vedran has one brother.^[2] He started to play football in Dinamo Zagreb's youth teams when he was eight years old, impressing many scouts from the youth academy.^[3] Ćorluka's professional career started in 2003, but during that season he made no appearance for the first team. He was sent on loan to Inter Zaprešić and played one season for them, helping the team place second in the league, before returning to Dinamo Zagreb in 2005. After establishing himself as a key player in Dinamo, he helped them win the Prva HNL title three seasons in a row from 2005–06. He also played a dominant part in his side capturing the Croatian cup in the 2006 season.

Manchester City

After consistently strong performances, Ćorluka was signed by Manchester City on 2 August 2007.^[4][5] City did not reveal the fee, but Croatian media reports suggested the deal was worth around £8 million, with the 21-year-old penning a five-year deal.^[6]

As usual, he consistently found a starting spot for his side in the Premier League. Despite a nightmare blunder during his side's shocking 6–0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, he remained strong during his first season in England as his side finished 9th in the league and gained entry to a UEFA Cup qualifying round via the UEFA fair play ranking. On few rare occasions, he was also used as a defensive midfielder during the season, proving to be a factor for opposing attackers.

He scored his first goal in the 4–2 loss at Aston Villa on the opening weekend of the 2008–09 season.^[7] In the UEFA Cup second qualifying round match second leg, Ćorluka scored the decisive spot kick in the dramatic 4–2 penalty shoot-out victory over Danish minnows Midtjylland after the tie had ended 1–1 on aggregate. He played his last match for City against Sunderland on 31 August 2008, throwing his shirt into the crowd at the end of the match.^[8]

Tottenham Hotspur

Ćorluka taking throw in for Tottenham Hotspur

On 1 September 2008, it was announced that Ćorluka had signed for Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £5.5 million on a six-year contract, joining his fellow Croatian international and best friend, Luka Modrić at the club.^[9] During the game against Stoke City on 19 October, Corluka was severely injured. Kneed under his chin by teammate Heurelho Gomes, he was immediately knocked unconscious. After ten minutes of on field treatment he was rushed to hospital where it was announced no serious damage was evident.^[10] In the League Cup final on 1 March 2009, Ćorluka scored his first and Tottenham's only penalty in the shootout loss to Manchester United. He is known to most Spurs fans as 'Charlie'.^[11]

Ćorluka scored his first Premier League goal for Tottenham during a 2–2 draw against Bolton Wanderers on 3 October 2009. On 2 February 2011, Corluka started and played the full 90 minutes at right-back ahead of the injured Alan Hutton, in the 1–0 victory over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.^[12]

Bayer Leverkusen loan

In the January 2012 transfer window, Ćorluka signed on loan for Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen for the remainder of the 2011–12 season on 31 January with the option to buyout his contract in the summer transfer window.^[13]

Ćorluka made his debut for the club in a 2–2 home draw against Stuttgart at the BayArena on 4 February, playing the full 90 minutes.^[14] In his only Champions League appearance for the club, Ćorluka provided the cross for Michal Kadlec's leveler in the 52' before being substituted in the 90' by Danny da Costa, losing 3–1 to Barcelona.^[15] On 25 February, the defender provided an assist for the first of Lars Bender's brace in the 2–0 win over Köln.^[16] The Croatian's last appearance for the club came in a 4–1 thrashing of 1. FC Nürnberg on 5 May,^[17] a game in which Leverkusen striker Kießling scored a hat-trick.^[18][19]

Despite Leverkusen having an option to buy his contract off at the end of season they decided not to pursue the option with financial difficulties being cited as the main obstacle.

Lokomotiv Moscow

Playing for Croatia

On 27 June 2012, Lokomotiv Moscow announced the signing of Ćorluka from Tottenham Hotspur for £5.5million. The signing came in light of recent naming of Slaven Bilić, an ex-Croatia manager, as the manager of Lokomotiv. Ćorluka signed a three-year contract following the successful completion of his medical examination.^[20] He scored on his debut against newly promoted Mordovia Saransk in a 3–2 victory.

International career

He started to play for the Croatian under-21 team and eventually progressed to his country's senior national team, for which he soon made his debut in the friendly match against world champions Italy on 16 August 2006 in Livorno, Italy. Croatia won the match 2–0 and Ćorluka, aged 20 during his debut, entered the game in the second half and satisfied critics with his very good, solid performance against experienced Serie A forwards.

During Croatia's UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, he became one of the key players under current head coach Slaven Bilić. Croatia finished first in Group E, notably ahead of Russia and favourites England, who eventually failed to qualify from the group.

Ćorluka was in the final match of the tournament where Croatia's exit came against Turkey in the extra time and penalty shootout.^[21] Turkey winger Arda Turan revealed in an interview with UEFA that Ćorluka is the most difficult right-back he has ever played against, whom he came up against during this match.^[22]

The defender was included for the preliminary squad for the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine after impressive performances in his loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen.^[23]

Career statistics

Club

As of 2 December 2013

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	8 October 2009	Kantrida, Rijeka	Qatar	1 – 0	3 – 2	Friendly
2.	11 November 2011	Türk Telekom Arena, Istanbul	Turkey	0 – 3	0 – 3	Euro 2012 Qualifying
3.	25 May 2012	Aldo Drosina, Pula	Estonia	1 – 0	3 – 1	Friendly
4.	12 October 2012	Philip II Arena, Skopje	Macedonia	1 – 1	1 – 2	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Dinamo Zagreb

• Prva HNL: 2

2005–06, 2006–07

• Croatian Cup: 1

2006–07

• Croatian Supercup: 1

2006

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vedran Ćorluka.

• Vedran Ćorluka – FIFA competition record
• Vedran Ćorluka career stats at Soccerbase
• Vedran Ćorluka at nogometni-magazin (Croatian)

Croatia squads v t e Croatia squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Pletikosa 2 Šimić 3 Šimunić 4 R. Kovač 5 Ćorluka 6 Vejić 7 Rakitić 8 Vukojević 9 Kalinić 10 N. Kovač (c) 11 Srna 12 Galinović 13 Pokrivač 14 Modrić 15 Knežević 16 Leko 17 Klasnić 18 Olić 19 Kranjčar 20 Budan 21 Petrić 22 Pranjić 23 Runje Coach: Bilić v t e Croatia squad – UEFA Euro 2012 1 Pletikosa 2 Strinić 3 Šimunić 4 Buljat 5 Ćorluka 6 Pranjić 7 Rakitić 8 Vukojević 9 Jelavić 10 Modrić 11 Srna (c) 12 Kelava 13 Schildenfeld 14 Badelj 15 Vrsaljko 16 Dujmović 17 Mandžukić 18 Kalinić 19 Kranjčar 20 Perišić 21 Vida 22 Eduardo 23 Subašić Coach: Bilić