News round-up

On Wednesday, Bosnia will travel to Ljubljana for an intriguing friendly against Slovenia. I’ll try to hammer out a match preview tomorrow night, but until then here’s this round-up of news about our players abroad. Feautirng: Edin Džeko, Vedad Ibišević, Neven Subotić, Boubacar Diabang Dialiba and Semir Štilić. And did I mention Neven Subotić?

- Reportedly, Arsenal, Chelsea and Man U all sent scouts to Wolfsburg’s recent UEFA Cup tie against Heerenveen to observe strikers Grafite and Edin Džeko. With his youth, physical attributes and two goals, I’d like to think that Edin made the better impression. While I’m not sure he’s ready to make the jump to a G-14 club just yet (and I’m more than happy to see him stay with Wolfsburg), it’s always nice to have your players linked to the European giants. Boro Primorac, Arsène Wenger’s Bosnian assistant, has already said nice things about Džeko in the past.

- Meanwhile, Vedad Ibišević, Džeko’s former Bosnia U-21 strike partner, is the Bundesliga’s top scorer at the moment. Vedo’s revival this season has been remarkable, and the whole country is hoping that he can pick up where Barbarez left off. If Samuel Eto’o and David Villa were only to collide in their upcoming La Liga match-up, the golden boot might not be out of the question either. A who’s who of Europe’s biggest clubs have expressed interest, but Ibišević seems happy to stay in Hoffenheim.

- In other news, young Borussia Dortmund stopper Neven Subotić has allegedly decided to rest his international fortunes with Serbia – allegedly. Subotić was born in Banja Luka, so many Bosnian fans would’ve liked to see him filling in the gaps in our back line. Unfortunately, there have been signs for a while that Bosnia wasn’t one of Neven’s top choices. With the rollercoaster coming to a close, it looks like they were right.

Honestly, I can’t say I’m too disappointed. Don’t get me wrong: Subotić seems set for a long and productive Bundesliga career, and I certainly wouldn’t mind a player of his caliber joining our ranks. That said, it’s obvious that even if he were to choose Bosnia, he’d hardly be playing his heart out for us (and at this point, the same seems to apply for any of his suitors). I can think of any number of unremarkable club players who put in some amazing performances for the national team because of the passion behind their play. For all his world-class talent, that’s something I don’t think Subotić will ever bring to the table.

- Speaking of nationality drama, Boubacar Dialiba has finally spoken out in the Bosnian press following his move to Murcia. For those who don’t know, Dialiba is a pacy and promising Senegalese striker who moved to Željezničar as a teenager. He received Bosnian nationality and made his debut for Bosnia’s U-21 team earlier in the year, scoring a goal against Wales. During Kodro’s tenure he even seemed on the verge of an A-team call up, but now it seems that his papers haven’t been completely cleared by FIFA. The popular “Buba” (Bug) has gotten off to a good start in Spain, scoring against Ajax in exhebition, but seems to have been largely forgotten by the Bosnian FA. Now, in a new interview, Dialiba claims that he’s disappointed that the paperwork hasn’t been settled, and says he’s still holding out for a call up to the A-team. He also mentioned that the Senegalese FA is growing interested, so I hope this situation will be worked out in our favor soon. With the NFSBiH track record, however, I’m not holding my breath.

- Meanwhile, Semir Štilić is on fire. Since escaping from the hell that is the Bosnian Premijer liga, he’s been absolutely brilliant in Lech Poznan, scoring goals and racking up assists left and right. His club manager is supposedly disappointed that he can’t play for Poland, which is ironic considering that Blažević has practically excommunicated him from the Bosnian camp so far in this qualifying cycle. Štilić has the misfortune of playing in the same spot as both Pjanić (Lyon) and Misimović (Wolfsburg), but I still would’ve liked to see his effort rewarded with a call-up against Slovenia. Either way though, I’m glad that he’s settled well in his new club and can focus on improving his game. Werder supposedly have their eye on him through their Bosnian scout Husnija Fazlić.