Aston Villa transfer flop Lovre Kalinic finally leaves on a permanent deal
Aston Villa flop Lovre Kalinic has finally left the club on a permanent basis, joining Croatian side Hajduk Split, the club has announced.
Kalinic was the first signing of the Dean Smith era at Villa Park, joining in January 2019 from Belgian outfit KAA Gent.
He spent the last two seasons on loan at Hajduk Split and the club confirmed on Friday morning (1 July) that he would return there on a permanent basis via their website.
The Croatian international nearly moved to Villa Park in 2016, but failed to gain a work permit and had to wait three years to make the move.
He made just eight appearances for Villa, the last of those coming less than two months after he joined in February 2019.
Not worth the wait
Kalinic is clearly a talented goalkeeper, having been a regular in Croatian national squads since 2014.
However, much like his time at Villa, he has never been able to nail down a starting berth with his national team. As cruel as it sounds, the best thing he ever did in a Villa shirt was getting injured.
Kalinic had a disastrous stint as Villa’s first choice ‘keeper, with his debut coinciding with a humiliating 3-0 defeat to Swansea in the FA Cup.
He followed that up with another 3-0 defeat on his league debut, this time against Wigan Athletic. Across his eight appearances, Villa conceded 15 goals and kept just one clean sheet.
Kalinic let in two goals in the space of four minutes in his final appearance against West Brom, but picked up a concussion and was substituted at half-time.
This paved the way for Jed Steer to come in, who put in a string of impressive performances as Villa clinched promotion.
After being made to wait three years for his Villa move, it is fair to say it did not quite meet expectations.
In other Aston Villa news, former Villa and West Brom starlet Finley Thorndike has moved to Birmingham City.