HNK Hajduk and English Premier League Brighton & Hove Albion have agreed on the transfer of 22-year-old Jan Mlakar. The new striker joined the preparations of Hajduk in Slovenian Zreče today, after he had previously signed a contract with Hajduk until the summer of 2025.
Mlakar was born on October 23, 1998 in Ljubljana, and he started his football career in the youth team of Domžale, from where he moved to ACF Fiorentina in 2015. He spent some time on loan at FC Venezia, and then in 2018 he moved to Maribor where he scored 12 goals in 28 appearances.
He then made a transfer to Brighton & Hove Albion in 2019 and played on loan in Maribor, Queens Park Rangers and Wigan Athletic. In the last season for Maribor, he played a total of 32 official matches in which he scored 14 goals and thus became the top scorer of the Slovenian First League.
He was a regular member of all youth squads of the Slovenian national team, and is currently an A member of the national team. He will wear the number 29 jersey in Hajduk.
- Jan is a player who, with his performances and performances last season, proved that he can be a reinforcement for Hajduk. Given the constant progress and the fact that he is only 22 years old, I am sure that there is still a lot of room for improvement. He is a very potent striker who, despite his youth, has already gathered a lot of experience and who will add value to our team. He is a versatile striker with a basic central striker position, but can provide the same quality in all two-striker game systems. It moves very well along the depth and the central zone in space, between and behind the opponent's defenders, and opens in time in the opponent's interline space. He is extremely agile and can play continuously at high intensity, showing a tendency to high pressure as well as a return race in the defensive phase. It is a player profile that is most of its features compatible with our style and model of play. Of special value is that Jan made his debut for the A national team of Slovenia on June 1 this year - the sports director of Mindaugas Nikoličius analysed the new striker.
- First impressions are great, I can't wait to start training and working with the team. I’ve been following my new teammates over the internet lately, I’ve watched friendly matches and I believe in one good story. Behind me is a great season, now I'm just looking ahead and I hope I can repeat something similar in Hajduk. I can only promise that I will always do my best, try to help the team and leave my heart on the field for this jersey - Jan pointed out in his first statement after signing for Hajduk
Congratulations to Jan and we wish him good luck and success in the white jersey!
You can watch the entire statement of Jan Mlakar on the Hajduk Digital TV application .
