Jan Mlakar

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Jan Mlakar
Personnel
birthday October 23, 1998
place of birth Ljubljana ,  Slovenia
size 183 cm
position striker
Juniors
Years station
0000-2008 NK Alfa
2008-2015 NK Domžale
2015-2018 AC Florence
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
2017-2018 AC Florence 1 0(0)
2017-2018 →  FC Venice  (loan) 3 0(0)
2018-2019 NK Maribor 28 (12)
2019– Brighton & Hove Albion 0 0(0)
2019 →  NK Maribor  (loan) 10 0(4)
2019-2020 →  Queens Park Rangers  (loan) 6 0(0)
2020– →  Wigan Athletic  (loan) 0 0(0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals) 2
2013 Slovenia U-15 1 0(1)
2013 Slovenia U-16 2 0(3)
2014-2015 Slovenia U17 13 (16)
2015 Slovenia U18 8 0(2)
2015-2016 Slovenia U-19 8 0(2)
2016-2019 Slovenia U-21 18 0(8)
2019 Slovenia B 1 0(0)
1 Only league games are given.
As of April 25, 2020

2 As of April 25, 2020

Jan Mlakar (born October 23, 1998 in Ljubljana ) is a Slovenian football player on the position of a striker . The multiple Slovenian junior national player has been under contract with Brighton & Hove Albion with play in the Premier League since January 2019 . He is currently awarded to the club Wigan Athletic , which plays in the EFL Championship .

Club career

Career start at home

Jan Mlakar was born on October 23, 1998 in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana and began his career as a football player in his hometown with the local club NK Alfa , of which he was a member until 2008. Then he made it to the youth department of NK Domžale from the city of Domžale , a few kilometers northeast of Ljubljana. Here he stood out because of his extraordinary risk of goal; so he scored 32 goals in 24 championship games for the U-15 team of his club in the 2012/13 season and was also regularly used in the 1st Slovenska Kadetska Liga , the Slovenian U-17 league, during this season . He made his league debut on October 24, 2012, one day after his 14th birthday. By the end of the season he had made ten appearances and three hits in this league. A similar record as with the U-15 team he succeeded in the following season 2013/14 with the team competing in the 1st Slovenska Kadetska League , for which he contributed 22 goals in 26 league games. It was only in the following season 2014/15 that he made his debut in the club's top junior team. In his debut game in the 1st Slovenska Mladinska Liga , a 2-2 home draw against the offspring of FC Koper on August 16, 2014, Mlakar was still 15 years old. Here, too, he quickly made it into the regular formation and had nine hits from 13 league games during the winter break when he left the club.

Change to Italy

In the winter break of 2014/15 Mlakar was given to the Italian first division club Fiorentina for a rumored transfer fee of one million euros , where he was initially to be used in the youth team and introduced to the professional team. With the Italians , he was first considered in the U-17 team and was still in the remainder of the 2014/15 season as a goalscorer several times, although he came to relatively few missions. In the Campionato Primavera , the highest Italian youth football league, he was already on the bench without being used this season. In the following season 2015/16 at the latest, the young Slovenian celebrated his breakthrough in the Florentine Primavera team . After making his debut in the third round match against Trapani Calcio , he had already scored six goals after just three championship games. By the 14th round of the championship in mid-January 2016, he had played every game and had a record of eleven goals in as many games.

After that, his league stakes largely decreased by the beginning of April; In the meantime, he brought it in the Campionato Primavera only on a mission as a substitute player. It was only from the beginning of April until the end of the season a month later that he was back in the regular formation of the team trained by Federico Guidi . In 17 championship games in the 2015/16 season, the Slovenian attacker scored 14 goals. He was also used in the final round after the regular season. In the 1-0 home win over Chievo Verona , he scored the only goal of his team and had to leave the pitch shortly before the end of the game due to a red card . He was then suspended for the second round match against FC Turin , which ended in a defeat on penalties and the associated elimination of his team from the final round. Mlakar also made short appearances this season at Torneo di Viareggio , in which he was eliminated with the team in the quarter-finals against the youth of Inter Milan , as well as appearances in the Coppa Italia Primavera , in which the team lost in the semi-finals to Juventus Turin .

In 2016/17, the center forward was again a regular for the Primavera team, for whom he scored twelve goals and four assists in 22 league games. Occasionally he even appeared as team captain and also played all three of his team's games in the subsequent final round, in which the team only lost 2-1 to the Primavera team from Inter Milan in the final. Furthermore, he completed all six games of his team in the Coppa Italia Primavera, in which he contributed three goals and was eliminated with the team again in the semi-finals. At Torneo di Viareggio, the team suffered a defeat in the round of 16 against US Sassuolo , which led to an early exit from the competition. Due to his performances in the Primavera, Mlakar made the leap into the professional squad at the beginning of 2017 and sat on the bench for the first time in a competitive game of the professional team in a competitive game of the professional team in the 2-1 away win of Fiorentina over Delfino Pescara in 1936 on February 1. After another game without a game a week later, he was part of the extended professional squad from the 31st championship round of Serie A 2016/17 . On April 30, 2017 he made his Serie A debut when he came on as a substitute for his compatriot Josip Iličić in the 70th minute of the 0-2 away defeat against US Palermo . Further competitive appearances for the professional team should not follow this season.

As a loan player in Venice and returning to Slovenia

In the summer break before the start of the 2017/18 season , the Slovenian attacking player was loaned out to Serie B promoted FC Venice until the end of the year. Under Filippo Inzaghi , the head coach of the financially troubled club, which had been founded several times in recent years, Mlakar was also barely considered. Although he was part of the extended squad for most of 2017, he rarely made appearances from the bench. On November 4, he made his Serie B debut when he came against Brescia Calcio from the 86th minute of play for his compatriot Siniša Anđelković on the lawn. In December, he did two more short missions lasting a few minutes and spent most of the time unused on the bench. In the 2017/18 Coppa Italia , the team was eliminated early in the second round against third division club Pordenone Calcio . After the month-long winter break, he was back on the bench for the Venetians in the first game in January and only a few days later moved back to his home country, where he joined the reigning champions NK Maribor . His contract was terminated by mutual agreement, which made it possible for him to transfer free of charge. Fiorentina secured 50% of the revenue if Mlakar was resold.

He made his debut on February 25, 2018 in a 0-0 home draw against NK Aluminij in the Slovenska Nogometna Liga , the highest football league in the country, when he was used by coach Darko Milanič from the start and in the 65th minute was replaced by Jasmin Mešanović . Then he missed five consecutive championship games and was only slowly brought back to the team. In a 5-0 away win over NK Triglav , when he played through the full 90 minutes, he was one of the main performers of his team, scoring one goal himself and preparing another three for his teammates. Also in the three subsequent games he was considered offensively dangerous, contributing two goals and as many assists. After he missed a league game again, he was used in all other championship games until the end of the Slovenska Nogometna Liga 2017/18 , but played only a subordinate role and did not play a single match over the full 90 minutes. At the end of the season he ranked second in the table with NK Maribor, tied with NK Olimpija Ljubljana, who, however, won the championship title due to the more away goals scored in direct comparison and Maribor was confirmed as runner-up. By the end of the season, Mlakar had scored three goals and six assists in twelve appearances.

Europa League qualification with Maribor, breakthrough in the SNL and move to England

The 19-year-old center forward started the 2018/19 season with the team in the first qualifying round of the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League against FK Partizani Tirana from Albania . In the first leg as a substitute in action, he completed the second leg from the start, before he was substituted in the 77th minute of the game. In the second qualifying round against Tschichura Satschchere he then sat on the substitutes' bench without being used and was also used as a substitute in the third qualifying round only in the second leg against the Glasgow Rangers . With the team, he was eliminated from the competition at the end of this game with a total score of 1: 3. In the league, things went much better for the offensive player in the Slovenska Nogometna Liga 2018/19 . Milanič used him in the starting line-up from the start of the season, with Mlakar having made 16 league appearances on nine goals and two assists by the winter break. It was during this winter break that the Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion approached the 20-year-old center forward and signed him for the next three and a half years (until June 30, 2022). The rumored transfer fee was three million euros, whereby - as already mentioned - 50% went to Fiorentina. Furthermore, an agreement was reached that Mlakar should receive 10% of his transfer fee even with the next transfer. This made it the most expensive sale in the history of NK Maribor, and after Ezekiel Henty , who switched from NK Olimpija Ljubljana to Lokomotiv Moscow in February 2016 for a rumored transfer fee of 5.5 million euros, the second most expensive sale in the history of the highest Slovenian Football League.

Immediately after his move, Mlakar was awarded back to the NK Maribor - at least until the end of the season. From the beginning of April to mid-May 2018 he made ten championship appearances and four goals for the Slovenes. With nine points on the reigning champion and cup winner NK Olimpija Ljubljana, he was with the NK Maribor for the 15th time in the club's history Slovenian football champions. Behind the top scorer Luka Zahović (18 goals) he was the second most successful goalscorer of the NK Maribor this season with his 13 goals from 26 games. After losing 2-1 to Olimpija Ljubljana in the final of the 2018/19 Slovenian Football Cup with the team , he immediately returned to England . After he was still with Brighton at their training camp in Austria, his loan transfer to the English second division team Queens Park Rangers until the end of the 2019/20 season was announced on July 24, 2019 . In the first game of the season Mlakar sat on the bench against Stoke City , but was not considered by Mark Warburton . It was not until August 31 that the 20-year-old Slovenian made his debut in a 2-1 away win over Sheffield Wednesday when he came onto the pitch in the 67th minute of play for Nahki Wells . In the weeks and months that followed, Mlakar was hardly taken into account and only occasionally made short appearances as a substitute player. In the EFL Cup 2019/20 , in which he played in both games of his team, he and his team were eliminated early in the second round after a 2-0 defeat against third division FC Portsmouth .

After he had not managed more than two months used and no longer had regularly sat on the bench, he was on 31 January 2020 the last day of the transfer window, along with his team-mates of Brighton, the central defender Leon Balogun until at the end of the season to club Wigan Athletic , also playing in the championship . His loan deal with the Queens Park Rangers was only canceled on the same day. After he was not even considered by coach Paul Cook in the first three championship games after the change , he sat for the first time on February 15, 2020, in a 2-2 away draw against Cardiff City unused on the bench of the Latics . Until the game was interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom in March 2020, Mlakar sat on the bench a few times, but was not used by it.

National team career

U-15, U-16 and U-17

Mlakar gained his first experience in a junior national team of the Slovenian Football Association in 2013, when he played in the Slovenian U-15 national team . He made his debut on May 23 in a friendly against the United States and scored one of the two Slovenian goals in his team's 2-1 victory. Only a little later, in September 2013, he played two international matches in the U-16 team against his colleagues from Macedonia and contributed three goals. He acted even more dangerous with the Slovenian U-17 national team, for which he made his debut in a friendly against Switzerland in April 2014 . In the 2-0 win for the Slovenes, he already scored his first goal for the U-17 juniors. After another outing against the Swiss two days later, when he scored another goal in another 2-1 win, he represented his home country at the Fudbalski Turnir Gradiška 2014 , a tournament for youth national football teams in Gradiška in the north of Bosnia and Herzegovina . At the tournament he was used in all five games in his country and scored six goals, all three of which in a 4-1 win in the final against Mexico .

On September 19, 2014, he started qualifying for the 2015 U-17 European Championship with the Slovenes and contributed four goals in this 5-0 win over Turkey . After he remained goalless in the two subsequent games against Portugal and Northern Ireland and the team qualified for the subsequent elite round of qualification thanks to a second place in Group 6, Mlakar was able to prove his scoring risk again in March 2015. The two goals in their 3-0 win in their first game against Romania were followed by Slovenia's only goal in their 3-1 defeat against England , as well as the winning goal in their 1-0 win over Norway in the third group game. With a second place in group 6 of the elite round, Slovenia qualified for the European Championship finals in Bulgaria in May 2016 . Mlakar himself was the top scorer in this European Championship qualification with eight goals from six games. This also ended his career in the U-17 national team, for which he had scored 16 goals in 13 international appearances.

U-18, U-19, U-21 and B national team

Even before the start of the elite round of the U-17 European Championship qualification, the young offensive player made his debut in the Slovenian U-18 selection . In the 0-1 defeat against Serbia on February 24, 2015, he was used by the Slovenian U-18 national coach as team captain for the first 41 minutes of the game. In May, he and the team took part in the aforementioned U-17 European Championship in Bulgaria - the Slovenian Football Association evaluates these games for the U-18 team - and played all three group matches in his home country there. As the last in group B with zero points and a total goal difference of 0: 3, the Slovenes were eliminated early at the end of the group stage. Subsequently, Mlakar came to four more U-18 international appearances in August 2015, in which he scored a total of two goals. Just a few days after his last U-18 international match, he made his debut in a friendly against Slovakia for the Slovenian U-19 juniors . After two of three possible appearances in the first qualifying phase for the U-19 European Championship in 2016 , it took almost ten months before the attacking player appeared again in an international match for the U-19 national team. After two appearances in friendly international matches against Poland in early September, the first qualifying round of the U-19 European Championship 2017 followed in October 2016 . Mlakar was in all three games and contributed one goal each in the first and last group game. The Slovenians failed in third place in Group 9 due to a progression in the elite round of the qualification.

The 1.83 m tall offensive player made his debut for Slovenia's U-21s back in May 2016 when he played in a friendly against Azerbaijan . Three days later he was used in another international match against Azerbaijan. It then took 15 months before Mlakar was allowed to play again for the Slovenian U-21 national team. He joined the team in qualifying for the U-21 European Championship and in 2017 played all five Slovenian games , scoring one goal each in the games against Luxembourg and Montenegro . In March 2018, he took part in the preparation for the next qualifying game and played for almost an hour in the 2: 3 defeat against Ukraine . In the European Championship qualifier against Bulgaria that took place a few days later , which ended in a clear 3-0 defeat, Mlakar completed the second half. After appearing in two U-21 friendlies against Greece and Israel at the end of May , in which he also contributed goals, Mlakar played two more qualifying games for next year's U-21 European Championship with his home country in September 2018. In the last two qualifying games, the offensive player was no longer part of the Slovenian squad; In the end, the Slovenes ranked second in group 9, twelve points behind France . In the table of the best runners-up in the group, however, Slovenia only finished eighth and thus penultimate place and was thus eliminated from the European Championship qualification.

On January 24, 2019, Mlakar made his debut in a friendly international match against a Chinese selection in the B national team of Slovenia. On June 7, 2019, he played a friendly against Switzerland for the Slovenian U-21 national team, for which he had last played nine months earlier, and scored a goal in the 2-1 win in his home country. In an international match against France that took place three months later, he scored the goal in the 73rd minute to make it 2-2. In October 2019 he played in a friendly against England and Hungary's U-21 national teams , scoring the decisive 1-0 victory in the last game against Hungary. On November 14, 2019, Mlakar, who in the meantime even acted as team captain, played his 18th international match for the U-21 national team in his home country in a 0-0 draw against Portugal .

successes

Club successes

with Fiorentina Primavera
with the NK Maribor

Individual successes

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c OFFICIAL: Mlakar sold to Maribor (English), accessed on August 31, 2018
  2. ↑ OFFICIAL: Mlakar loaned to Venezia , accessed on August 31, 2018
  3. ^ Mlakar: “Maribor la mia miglior scelta. I gol segnati con la Fiorentina sono di buon auspicio per fare bene qua ” (Italian), accessed on August 31, 2018
  4. ↑ Calciomercato Fiorentina, Mlakar ceduto al Maribor (Italian), accessed on August 31, 2018
  5. ↑ ALBION SIGN SLOVENIAN STRIKER (English), accessed on July 3, 2019
  6. ↑ Brighton: Jan Mlakar and Tudor-Cristian Baluta join Seagulls , accessed July 3, 2019
  7. ↑ a b c Jan Mlakar will continue his career on the island of Zajc in Turkey , accessed on July 3, 2019
  8. ↑ MLAKAR: EVERYTHING HERE IS INCREDIBLE (English), accessed on July 3, 2019
  9. ↑ Slovenian striker Jan Mlakar joins QPR , accessed December 12, 2019
  10. ↑ Sheffield Wednesday - Queens Park Rangers (1: 2) (English), accessed December 12, 2019
  11. ^ A b Leon Balogun and Jan Mlakar join Wigan Athletic on loan , accessed April 25, 2020
  12. ↑ Slovenija - Kitajska (2: 2) (Slovenian), accessed July 3, 2019
  13. ↑ Slovenija - Francija (2: 2) (Slovenian), accessed December 12, 2019
  14. ↑ Slovenija - Madžarska (1: 0) (Slovenian), accessed on December 12, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Mlakar, Jan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Slovenian soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH October 23, 1998
PLACE OF BIRTH Ljubljana , Slovenia