Josip Juranovic is shunning all talk over his future as he sets about creating more special World Cup memories with Croatia.
The Celtic star is gearing up for a semi-final appearance against Argentina on Tuesday night in Qatar. Juranovic has won huge praise after his Man of the Match performance against Brazil when his side knocked the pre-tournament favourites out at the last-eight stage. The 27-year-old is attracting transfer interest from around Europe with Celtic’s raid for Canada star Alistair Johnston opening the door to a potential January move.
But, right now, Juranovic has eyes only on the game’s biggest prize as he said: “Honestly, I haven’t read what was written since we arrived. We’re just focused on the national team. I even told my agent not to send me anything, I’m not interested at all right now. I want to do something for myself, my future sons and daughters, I want to tell them the story of what we did and to be proud.
"I may not be a player worth 20-30 million Euros, but you must know one thing. I never gave up, even when I was in Hajduk and Dubrava, nor in Celtic, nor in Croatia. My parents taught me to look forward. Life tells strange stories, I stuck to my point that I needed to prove myself on the field.”
Juranovic believes he’s starring alongside once-in-a-lifetime Croatia heroes and the Celtic ace is convinced Zlatko Dalic’s ultra-talented family unit fear nothing from Lionel Messi and Argentina. Juranovic is full of belief ahead of the last-four crunch and he savours playing alongside national-team icons such as Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic.
He said: “The secret is that we are all a real family and we stick together. We breathe for each other from the first minute to the last and that is the secret of our success, simply.
“Honestly, we shouldn’t be afraid of anyone and we should look at ourselves. We will look at the analysis with the coach and decide how and what to play.
“Luka, Marcelo and Mateo are the best Croatian midfield, I don’t know when it will happen again. Passing the ball to them is safer than your money in the bank, it’s easier when you play with them.
“I’m lucky enough to share a dressing room with such players and buy that knowledge, I’m very happy to be there. We want to make our people happy, to come home proud and with our heads held high. Argentinians also want that and we are such a small country with a big heart.”
Juranovic also had huge praise for defensive mate Josko Gvardiol. The RB Leipzig star is on the radar of Chelsea with transfer figures of £70 million being mooted and he has been a star of Qatar.
Juranovic said: “I had the opportunity to play against him for my club [in the Champions League] as well. I lost.
“As a person, Josko is a boy who enjoys every moment, he likes to be on the pitches and he enjoys being in the national team and hanging out with all of us. I expect that he will have a great career.”
