It was in 2007. Europe did not yet know this boy, promised a very bright future within FC Barcelona. During a La Liga match against Villarreal, the young Bojan Krkic, then aged 17, scored his first professional goal. He torpedoed the precocity record of a certain… Lionel Messi, becoming the youngest scorer in the history of the championship. In short: this young man had everything of a great.
From Barça to Italy
Within Barça, Bojan Krkic Pérez is gradually managing to make his mark. The youngest player in Barça history to play a Champions League match in 2007, he also became the club’s youngest goalscorer in the most prestigious of European competitions. He will wear the FC Barcelona tunic 163 times, for 41 goals.
However, in 2011, FC Barcelona announced Bojan’s departure for AS Roma. Bojan continues to perform for the Louve club, with 7 goals scored in 37 games played. However, in 2012-2013, he was sent on loan to the side of theAC Milan. It is finally there that his decline in form will be significant.
From Serie A to the Premier League
Indeed, in Lombardy, Bojan Krkic fails to make his mark. In 27 games played, Bojan scored only 3 times. It is thus referred to theAS Roma, who no longer wants him either. In accordance with the clauses fixed when he arrived in 2011, he was therefore sent back to FC Barcelona, the club of the Italian capital refusing to pay the 28M€ necessary for his final purchase.
However, he will never wear the FC Barcelona tunic again. Upon his return, Bojan was sent on loan to Ajax Amsterdam. After 32 games and 5 goals scored, he was bought by the English club Stoke City in 2013, for an amount of €1.8 million.
For his first season in the Premier League, Bojan manages to score 4 times in 16 games. However, the fate persists on the Spaniard. On January 26, 2015, Bojan suffered a ruptured cruciate ligament, which will keep him out of action until July. The following season is quite promising, with 7 goals in 27 Premier League games. But in January 2017, Bojan was sent on loan to FSV Mainz, after a disappointing first half of the season. He will only score once in 11 games played.
Bojan finally fell into oblivion
After a failed freelance on the side of Alavés, in La Liga, Bojan Krkic has gradually fallen into oblivion. After Stoke City’s relegation to the Championship, the Spaniard managed to grab playing time, without performing well. In 2019, he left England to join the Montreal Impact, in MLS. But there, he will only score 7 times in 31 games. Not enough for Canadian leaders to want to keep him.
Following a 9-month period without a club, Bojan signed on August 9, 2021 at Vissel Kobe, where he finds his former teammate at FC Barcelona, Andrés Iniesta. After 6 games in his first season, a new blow of fate falls on Bojan. Injured in the meniscus in July 2022, he missed 84 days of competition, and returned to the field in early October. He currently points to 14 games in the league, without any goals scored. But he does not give up, and wants to return to his best level now.
In any case, Bojan does not regret any of his choices. “From the outside, you can always think it could have been better, that I could have done more, but when I look back and see everything I’ve done, I’m satisfied”he said in an interview with So Foot in 2020.
Bojan Krkic therefore remains considered one of the biggest failures of recent years. Like what, you should never ignite: everything can go very quickly in football.
