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A teenage full-back who is scoring spectacular goals in the Bundesliga—is Tin Jedvaj the next big thing?

In little more than two weeks—16 days, to be precise—he recorded two goals and two assists for his club. He also made his full international debut for Croatia, aged 18.

But Jedvaj doing so well in an attacking sense at such a young age is not even the most interesting thing about his recent success. It is the fact that he is a defender.

You could never tell by watching his goals. Against Hertha BSC on August 30, he cut inside from the wing and sneaked behind the defence to receive a pass, throwing the goalkeeper off balance before placing a left-footed shot. Against Werder Bremen on Friday, September 12, he got the ball on the edge of the area, smashing it off the crossbar and into the net with his right foot.

Of course, those two situations only begin to tell the story.

He needs to improve defensively, as evidenced by an own goal he scored against Hertha. His positioning is not always ideal and he seems prone to making risky passes, which is not a trait that most coaches desire from a defender. But his overall performance has been very, very promising.

Another product of Dinamo Zagreb’s youth academy, which gave us Real Madrid’s Luka Modric, Internazionale’s Mateo Kovacic and Liverpool’s Dejan Lovren, Jedvaj is a son of an ex-professional footballer from Bosnia—just like his former team-mate, Barcelona’s Alen Halilovic. His father Zdenko was a decent defender, who stayed in Croatia after finishing his career.

Jedvaj junior rose through the youth ranks to make his debut for Dinamo in February last year. Merely five months later, he was sold to Roma.

He didn’t have time to leave his true mark at Dinamo, but in those 14 appearances for the Croatian champions he did hint at his vast potential. He played as centre-back, right-back and even defensive midfielder, looking equally confident in all three roles.

Roma didn’t give Jedvaj a chance, fielding him in only two matches last season, so this summer he was sent on a two-year loan to Bayer Leverkusen.

Like most Bundesliga clubs, it is a good place for youngsters to develop. Their new coach Roger Schmidt had considerable success with Red Bull Salzburg in Austria, developing an exciting brand of attacking football and he has the intention to replicate it at Leverkusen.

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Schmidt instantly made Jedvaj a starter at the right-back position.

Not only that—he’s letting him participate in the final third all the time, so the teenager is often finding himself in promising positions to shoot or make a key pass. That also means he has to do a lot of running back and forth, covering huge patches of the playing field. But that doesn’t seem to be much of a problem for Jedvaj, who is exceptionally industrious and possesses a confidence far beyond his age.

His mistakes stem just as much from his inexperience as from his playful nature. “I play with lot of happiness, lot of fun. I’m never nervous before a game,” Jedvaj told Bundesliga.com. “That’s because I think football is a game, not a job.”

Jedvaj has all the characteristics of a good defender—he’s good at marking, tackling, one-on-ones and really strong in the air. He’s also hard-working and determined, while his reading of the game is exceptionally good for such a young player. In Croatia, coaches and journalists have compared him to Paolo Maldini, John Terry and Slaven Bilic.

But right from the start, you could see that his style is more versatile and adventurous; that he likes to play in both directions.

He’s a quiet kid, modest and fully dedicated to his career. Very likely a future leader.

While it’s his goals and assists that have been bringing him the attention at the moment, don’t expect Jedvaj to become something of novelty or a prototype—a defender who scores more often and more spectacularly than others. If he is to reach his full potential and become a complete player, able to cover multiple roles, he will first have to tighten up in defence.

Being avant-garde is nice, but it doesn’t account for all that much if you haven’t fully mastered the basics. And Jedvaj can do both.

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