Chelsea sign Pasalic – Mourinho seals young Croatian’s Signature

Chelsea have announced the signing of 19 year old Mario Pasalic from Croatian club Hajduk Split.

The young midfielder who was named in the 30-man provisional World Cup squad for Croatia will join up with his new team mates on Wednesday afternoon after completing the deal earlier today.

Pasalic joined the Hadjuk Split youth academy in 2006, sparking plenty of interest from big clubs in 2012 when scoring 17 goals from midfield for the under-17 youth side before joining up with the first team.

After being forced to miss much of the 2012/13 season due to an infection, Pasalic made his debut for the Hajduk first team in April 2013. He went on to play 32 games – scoring 11 goals in the process.

The central midfielder was delighted to be signing for Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea. “I am very happy because I am now a Chelsea player,” Pasalic told Chelsea’s official club website.

“I am very impressed by the training ground and I must thank everybody at Hajduk. This is now a new start in my career.

“I am a central midfielder, my favourite player is Frank Lampard, and so I am very happy to be a Chelsea player.”

While not yet being capped at full international level for Croatia just yet, Pasalic has two under 21 caps and is expected to be a potential star of the future for the Croatian national team.

It’s not yet clear exactly what Chelsea’s immediate plan for Pasalic is. He may well be loaned out to one of their feeder clubs although nothing has been announced by the club.