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| Birth Name(s) : Niko Kranjcar |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Full Niko Kranjcar Biography
1 Senior club appearances and goalscounted for the domestic league only andcorrect as of 19:58, 29 September 2007 (UTC).2 National team caps and goals correctas of 13 October 2007.* Appearances (Goals)
Niko Kranjčar (born August 13, 1984 in Zagreb) is a Croatian football midfielder. He currently plays for English club Portsmouth, and is also a part of the Croatia national team. He is the son of the famous Zlatko "Cico" Kranjčar
Known for his playmaking abilities such as his range of passing, his vision, his exceptional dribbling, his ability to shoot with both feet from long range, and also his mastery from free-kicks and set-pieces.
Kranjčar spent most of his youth playing for Dinamo Zagreb, and later became captain. However, in early 2005, after a disagreement with the management, he made a surprise transfer to Dinamo's biggest rival, Hajduk. His transfer was probably the biggest sport news of the year in Croatia. It was also the most expensive transfer in Croatian football at the time, until Eduardo da Silva's move to Arsenal in 2007. Niko was chosen for "Young guns firing for World Cup glory" on eurosport.com with some of the greatest talents in the world, such as Leo Messi, Lukas Podolski and Sulley Muntari.
After the 2006 World Cup, the world press hailed him for his talents, and several clubs wanted to buy him. Among those clubs were the French club Stade Rennes and the Spanish Club Celta de Vigo. But in the end, Pompey came with the best offer for him. In August 2006, Rennes bid €4.5 million for Kranjčar, Hajduk rejected that offer and stated they felt they should get more for the player. Later on the same day, Kranjčar then moved for a reported £3.5million (€5.2 million) to Portsmouth on August 31, 2006.
Kranjčar made his Premier League debut for Portsmouth on 1 October 2006, playing all 90 minutes in their 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at the White Hart Lane. He scored his first Premier League goal on 31 March 2007 against Fulham at the Craven Cottage, giving Portsmouth an early 1-0 lead in a match that eventually ended in a 1-1 draw. He made a total of 24 appearances and scored two goals in his first Premier League season.
Kranjčar has been part of the Croatian national Under-16, -17, -19 and -21 teams before advancing to the senior national team.
His senior debut for Croatia came on 18 August 2004 in a friendly match against Israel. He was a regular for Croatia during their qualifying campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, making nine appearances and scoring two goals. He also played in all of Croatia's three group matches at the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany.
Kranjčar is also a regular for Croatia in their ongoing qualifying campaign for the UEFA Euro 2008, having appeared in all ten matches and scoring one goal so far. |
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