CONFIRMED: Dortmund monitor the ‘next Luka Modric’

Borussia Dortmund managing director Lars Ricken has confirmed to FootballTransfers that his club are aware of the exploits of highly-rated Croatia international Petar Sucic.

Sucic and his Dinamo Zagreb teammate Martin Baturina have become familiar names in the transfer market in recent weeks and months. Due to their impressive performances in domestic play, the pair have been associated with several of Europe’s top clubs.

By virtue of their position – both are midfielders – the two have been invariably compared to national hero Luka Modric despite the fact that both generally carry out different roles.

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Baturina is more of an attacking midfielder, while Sucic is primarily deployed in a more holding role, albeit he is also capable of playing further forward.

It has been suggested that Baturina has been recommended to Real Madrid by compatriot Modric but actually turned them down after they outlined their development plan for him which included an initial two-year loan to a fellow LaLiga side.

In the media, Baturina is generally portrayed as the biggest talent at Dinamo Zagreb, but in the industry, the feeling appears to be different.

Sucic a star in the making

In fact, Dinamo believe that it is actually Sucic who has the brightest future out of anyone at the club. Due to being the more defensive of the two, the 21-year-old still goes somewhat under the radar compared to Baturina but this doesn’t mean that clubs aren’t taking note.

Borussia Dortmund have been linked with the midfielder in recent days due to the fact that they faced Zagreb in the Champions League last week and managing director Lars Ricken has confirmed to FootballTransfers during a Bundesliga international media round table that his side are well aware of the player.

“I had a talk with Marco Maric from Dinamo Zagreb, the sporting director, and he told me they think Susic is their greatest player. Unfortunately, he was injured [when Dortmund played Zagreb],” Ricken explained.

“We have a very good scouting department and we are following top talented players all over the world. I can’t say now whether we are interested in this player or that player.

“We talked about the team of Zagreb and because of their business model, they have a lot of great players already playing in the national team from a very young age. They have very interesting players,” he added.

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At present, however, Dortmund are not expected to move for Sucic. Not only is the midfielder currently sidelined until the new year but Dinamo are also reluctant to sell one of their key players in January.

Dortmund are not planning for a busy winter window, though they may explore the market for a left-back should an opportunity for a deal arise. The recent upturn in the form of Ramy Bensebaini has made this less of a priority, though.