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Premiership Player Profile – Ivan Klasnic

It’s the return of the Premier League Player Profiles today, as this is the ninth feature that I and fellow blogger 5stars have done over the past few months. Basically we are one blog away from completing half of the Premier League teams in the league, so here is a recap of the teams and the players we have already focused on. David Dunn(Blackburn), Darren Fletcher(Man Utd), Clint Dempsey(Fulham), John Carew(Aston Villa), Paul Scharner(Wigan), Jack Rodwell(Everton), Shay Given(Man City), Petr Cech(Chelsea) and now Ivan Klasnic(Bolton). Please enjoy the second half of our features, and after that there will definitely be more players in store for you the readers…

Ivan Klasnic is currently on loan at Bolton from French side Nantes, as he signed for the Lancashire club on transfer deadline day at the end of August. Klasnic is a real threat in the box and has decent goal scoring records with his former clubs and his country. Klasnic has scored twelve time for Croatia in 38 appearances , also he starred for German side Werder Bremen between the years of 2001-2008, Ivan Klasnic was able to feature 150 times for Bremen and score 49 goals in seven years for the 2003/2004 Bundesliga Champions. Klasnic however has started pretty well for Bolton as he is currently the top scorer in the league for the Trotters with five goals.

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Bolton manager Gary Megson claimed that Klasnic was a player that the club had been tracking for some time, and the former West Brom manager got his wish at the end of August. As I mentioned above Klasnic has scored five goals for Bolton Wanderers this season, however it did take some time for Klasnic to score his first goal in a Bolton shirt, since he made his debut against Portsmouth on the 12th of September, the Croatian international went six games without a goal for Bolton however some of his appearances in that six game span were substitute appearances. Klasnic did score his first goal for Bolton towards the end of October, as he scored the winning goal in an entertaining 3-2 win over Everton. His next goal came at the end of November as he scored the only Bolton goal in the 1-1 draw against Fulham. 

This month though has been the turning point in his Bolton career so far, as Klasnic was the star in the 3-3 draw against Man City at the Reebok Stadium. Ivan scored two goals that day plus he celebrated one of his goals by wearing a pair of sunglasses (very bizarre indeed). His fifth goal for the Trotters was a tap in as a mistake from West Ham keeper Robert Green gifted Klasnic the goal. Klasnic has five months left with Bolton, but if the club stay afloat this season the Premier League may well see more of the Croatian star.

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Onto his International career now and before choosing to play for Croatia, Klasnic was offered a chance to play for Germany under the guidance of coach Rudi Voller. Klasnic was born in Germany, however as he already played for the Croatia under 19’s and 21’s the Bolton forward decided to play full international football for Croatia. Ivan Klasnic debut came against his home born country, as he was on the losing side as Germany defeated Croatia 2-1. Klasnic has starred in every major tournament for Croatia since his debut for the country in the year 2004, as he was chosen as part of the vatreni (the blazers) for the Euro 2004 campaign but he was left on the bench throughout that tournament. The 2006 World Cup was a better outing for Ivan Klasnic as he featured in all three of Croatia’s group matches, however even though he was meant to be one of the Croat’s better players he couldn’t bag himself a goal throughout the 2006 World Cup campaign.

Euro 2008 was a highlight in Klasnic’s career so far as he scored two goals for Croatia in that tournament. His first goal came against Poland in the final group match as he scored the winning goal in the 1-0 win as Croatia advanced into the next stage of the Euros. He netted his second goal in the mouth watering quarter final against Turkey, as his goal proved to be a crucial one until Semih Senturk scored a very late extra time goal for Turkey, Klasnic and his Croatian team mates Euro 2008 run ended as they were eventually beaten that night in a penalty shoot-out . Since his fabulous efforts at Euro 2008, Ivan Klasnic has only scored one goal since then as he scored one of two goals in the World Cup qualifier against Andorra. Overall Klasnic has been a battler for Croatia and for his clubs, as a kidney failure could have ended his career. As for Bolton hopefully the club sign Klasnic on a permanent basis at the end of the 2009/2010 season.

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