Wolverhampton Wanderers were linked with Dominik Livakovic in 2021 and after such an impressive start to the World Cup in Qatar, the Old Gold might regret not bringing him to Molineux.
It was suggested last year that the Croatian shot-stopper could be the man to replace Rui Patricio as he completed a move to Italy to join Jose Mourinho’s Roma but, in the end, Wolves would sign Jose Sa.
While the Portugal international was a big hit at Molineux last season, his performances have dropped significantly so far this campaign, with him currently underperforming on his expected goals against, while Livakovic continues to stand out as one of the top goalkeepers outside of Europe’s top leagues.
The 27-year-old scores above the 90th percentile for his shot-stopping ability, save percentage and goal kicks when compared to other ‘keepers in Europe, which emphasises how good he is with both his hands and his feet.
After helping Croatia through to the knockout stages after clean sheets against Morocco and Belgium, Livakovic proved to be the “hero” in Zlatko Dalic’s side on Monday as they beat Japan on penalties to set up a quarter-final game against Brazil.
During normal and extra time, the Dinamo Zagreb man would contribute three saves, one punch and one high claim, as he regularly thwarted Japan’s dangerous attacks.
However, his status as Croatia’s hero was confirmed during the penalty shootout, as he saved three out of four penalties, denying Takumi Minamino, Kaoru Mitoma and Maya Yoshida to send the Vatreni through to the next round.
Sofascore would award Livakovic a hugely impressive 8.1/10 rating for his performance, which ranked him as the best Croatian and second-best overall player on the pitch, which emphasises just how important he was in Dalic’s side progress in Qatar.
The Croatia manager was unsurprisingly full of praise for his goalkeeper following the game, saying:
“We had a fantastic goalkeeper. Today he was great, he saved each of the penalties in a very strong and stable manner.
“We practised penalties in training yesterday and he made several saves. When he had the penalty shootout today I was assured, yesterday he installed this confidence and I was sure he would show that capacity today.”
Livakovic’s value is certain to shoot through the roof after his impressive displays in Qatar and Wolves may rue not bringing the £15k-per-week star to the Premier League if he earns a big move next year and continues to shine.