Aston Villa have announced the signing of Croatian international goalkeeper Lovre Kalinic. The 28-year-old will officially join the club when the January transfer window opens.
Aston Villa have completed the signing of Croatian goalkeeper Lovre Kalinic from Belgian side KAA Gent, the club have announced. The 6′ 7″ keeper will join the squad on January 1st after agreeing a deal which will see him stay at the club until the summer of 2023.
The ‘keeper comes in to give manager Dean Smith another option between the sticks, after Orjan Nyland has failed to impress since joining the club in the summer transfer window.
Kalinic spent a total of 17 years with Croatian side Hadjuk Split, first joining them at the age of 10. He made his way through the youth academy and made his debut in 2011. From then onwards, Kalinic was the starting goalkeeper for the Croatian outfit, making a total of 130 appearances.
After 17 years in Croatia with his boyhood club, the 28-year-old swapped Croatia for Belgium, when he joined Jupiler Pro League side KAA Gent in January 2017. In his first season in Belgium, he won the best goalkeeper award despite only arriving halfway through the campaign.
Since then, Kalinic has been a fixture in the Gent side, keeping 29 clean sheets in 79 matches.
Upon the announcement of the signing, Aston Villa manager Dean Smith has spoken of his joy after the arrival of Kalinic.
“We are delighted to be signing someone of Lovre’s experience and quality,” Smith told the club website.
“He is an outstanding goalkeeper and we are looking forward to welcoming him when he joins at the beginning of January.”
Villa manager Dean Smith is not the only man to be very pleased with the news. Aston Villa fans have been celebrating the news on Twitter upon the announcement.
Delighted with this! Every good team needs a goalkeeper and now we have one #UTV #AVFC
— Bigdawg (@AVBigDogg420) December 21, 2018
no more nyland. 😍🙏 there is a God after all 😫🙏
— billy (@avbiIly) December 21, 2018
Hopefully nylands head doesn't drop for the next few games. Nice to see us doing business asap though!
— Mitch (@mitch16avfc) December 21, 2018
It's like you guys knew it was my birthday 😂 I'll take this as a gift so thank you 👍🏻
— Gary B 🇺🇦 (@GaryBolton91) December 21, 2018
All you need is Lovre
Duh duhduh nah nah nah
All you need is Lovre
Duh duhduh nah nah nah
All you need is Lovre…Lovre
Lovre's all you need!— Robin Finnerty (@9TeenAT5) December 21, 2018
Lovre Kalinic? What a signing mate #AVFC
— Daniel Raza (@RazaJourno) December 21, 2018
Welcome Lovre Kalinic!! We really did need a keeper, and in the end it was a simple choice. Croatia no.1 or Burnleys no.3? Think I feel confident we made the right decision…. #AVFC
— Tom Fox (@TomFox90) December 21, 2018
Kalinic's signing feel's like a statement, new era #AVFC
— Jack 🦁 (@LordMillman29) December 21, 2018
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