Does Haris Vuckic Have a First-Team Role to Play Next Season?
Joining Newcastle United from an early age in January 2009 after originally plying his trade in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, for NK Domzale, he took a while to break through from the youth set-up and reserves before making his Premiership debut back in August as a late substitute against Fulham.
He went from strength to strength and appeared four times in the league before impressing in a month long loan spell at Cardiff City, where he played five times and found the net on one occasion. Including an international debut, against Scotland on the 29th of February this calendar year, it has definitely been a big year for the 6 foot 3 attacking midfielder.
What now, then, should we expect from Vuckic this coming season? There are two options. The first of these is that he stays at the club in the role of a genuine squad player. He showed enough in his four appearances in the Premiership that he can perform this role well, offering an option from the bench of filling in when injury strikes on Tyneside.
His display in his first start, against West Bromwich Albion back in January, was particularly impressive. This coupled in with the fact that Newcastle will face greater fixture congestion due to their participation in the Europa League this season, a deeper squad will be needed.
This can either be achieved by bringing in a number of players, of by utilizing what the club already has, through players such as Vuckic. This would mean that he would have a bigger role this season, and could be given the chance to come into his own in the domestic cup competitions, the League Cup especially.
Another school of thought would be that Vuckic could benefit with another loan move. The Cardiff manager was keen to keep Vuckic following his spell in Wales last season but Newcastle opted to recall him due to injuries, but there is a potential door open there.
This leads to the simple conclusion that if Newcastle are not planning on giving Vuckic a decent amount of time on the pitch this season for the first team, then they should loan him out, perhaps to another Championship club or abroad is necessary.
That means that if we don’t see Haris Vuckic leave on loan before the season starts and particularly before the window shuts, we can safely expect to see him playing some role at the Sports Direct Arena this season. Having signing a bumper five year contract only a year ago, Newcastle fans can be hopeful that the Slovenian playmaker can turn out a star of the future.
What do you expect of Haris Vuckic this season? Would you like to seen him playing a greater role, or out on loan gaining more experience? Get in touch, either on the site or by contacting us on Twitter – either @thespectoview or @Aitkenheadhj – get involved in the debate!
Harry Aitkenhead
The Spectator's View 
Only saw him a couple of times last season. As you said against West Brom he looked very promising if a bit raw, though against a better side in the game against Liverpool at Anfield the game passed him by quite a bit as he struggled to keep up the pace. As with most young players I would actually argue that he would benefit more from a loan move abroad rather than one in the Championship – top 6 or so Championship clubs aside the gap in technical quality is vast and so is the pace of the game. Other than regular playing time youngsters do not receive a huge amount that will prepare them for frequent starts in the Premier League unless they are loaned to a side that employs a technical possession based style of play such as Blackpool, Southampton etc. – that said Cardiff does come under that bracket. However, a move abroad to most southern or western European countries would all but guarantee Vuckic a chance to develop technical ability more and avoid picking up bad habits than many players do pick up in the Championship – an example of this would be that following Jonjo Shelvey’s return to Liverpool having been on loan at Blackpool he was often too impatient on the ball which led to unnecessary loss of possession and it took him a while to readjust – this would have been fine in the Championship where rarely are teams quick or cohesive enough to punish cheap loss of the ball.
If handled well however and if the right decisions are made I believe Vuckic can develop into a very good player.
First of all, thanks for the feedback Alex. I do agree with you there actually. The Championship encourages a very relaxed approach, with the defence often a lot slower to press attacking players. If he were to move over to Spain, it would help him to develop a quick-witted approach, fast to react to a more pressured environment. I think it is perhaps too early to allow him a starting place, but the need for first-team action is imperative in helping a player become accustomed to a higher level of football. He’s too good for reserve team football, but not mature enough for Premier League football.Spain, as you said, does sound like the best option.