Ljubo Puljić
Country: Croatia
Date of birth: 31/05/2007 (15 years old)
Place of birth: Vinkovci (Croatia)
Height: —
Youth career: HNK Cibalia Vinkovci, NK Osijek (since 2018)
Current club: NK Osijek
Squad number: —
Current national team: Croatia U-17
Position: central defender
Preferred foot: left
Market value (by transfermarkt.de): —
Tournaments participated in: —
Contract until: 31.12.2024
Player’s agent: unknown
Transfer rumours: —
Similar type of player: Nemanja Vidić
Strengths:
– tackling 
– marking
– positioning
– anticipation
– aerial duels
– athleticism
– tenacity
– concentration 
– work rate
To improve:
– quite comfortable on the ball but still has a significant margin to improve his progressive passing and ball-playing ability under pressure
Style of play:
– complete and dominant centre-back
– player who excels mostly in the defensive part of the game and can also be described as an ‘old-fashioned centre-back’ or ‘no-nonsense centre-back’
– player with very good body mass ratio, physical strength, power, and natural fitness who feels very comfortable in contact situations
– decent pace and coordination for a player of his size
– likes to spread play with good long-range diagonals
– likes to play it simple in the build-up and doesn’t like to take the unnecessary risk on the ball
– prefers an active style of defending by getting into challenges and pressing opponents
– consistent, aggressive, and hard-tackling defender
– fearless and good at timing tackles, both sliding and standing
– very high tackling success and ball recovery rate
– registers a high number of blocks and clearances per game thanks to his superb positioning
– knows how to use his upper-body strength to gain advantage in challenges/wins most of the physical duels
– very strong in the air
– concentrated and reactive player with good reading of the game, positioning, and anticipation
– courageous, committed, tenacious, and willing to sacrifice
– charismatic and mature for his age/potential leader in the future
Puljić stays focused and blocks a very dangerous shot with a last man tackle.
Puljić stops a very dangerous attack as the last man.
Heatmap by Wyscout:
He is best suited to playing as:
Central defender in 4-3-3.
Video:
Achievements:
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League summary (as for 22 December 2022):
No senior team appearances yet.
Description:
Ljubo Puljić joined the NK Osijek youth academy from his hometown club HNK Cibalia Vinkovci in 2018. He is considered to be one of the most talented centre-backs of his age category in Europe. He is one of the leaders of an extremely talented generation of Croatian U17s which includes, among others Luka Vušković, Mate Ivković, Antonio Kujundžić, Toni Majić, Tomas Baković, and Lovre Lončar.
Quotes:
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Football Talent Scout potential rating:
First team material in a top European league.
Links: