Even though the autumn period hasn’t even finished yet, Viktoria already announces the first asset for the second half of the 2019/2020 season! Croatian midfielder Marko Alvir signs the three-and-a-half-year contract in Pilsen. Alvir is currently playing on loan from Slavia Prague in Příbram, in January 2020 he will join forces with Pilsen and become a Viktorian.

Alvir was born on 19th April 1994 in Zagreb, where he played for the local youth teams. He started in the neighboring club Kustošija, afterwards he played for NK Nagreb, before he finally joined the famous Dinamo Zagreb Academy. He spent two years in the Spanish Academy of Atlético Madrid and also played for Croatian national youth teams. "I used to train with the Atlético first team, which was a huge opportunity and experience for me. I learned a lot during that time," said Marko Alvir in his first interview.

He has been a part of Slovenian team of Domžale since June 2015 and it was right here, where he had a taste of the top senior league football for the first time. 18 months later, he signed a contract with Slavia Prague, but he has never played a single match for the red-and-whites. He spent the 2017/2018 season on loan back in Domžale and played the UEFA Europa League qualification games. After that, his career was strongly limited and suspended by injuries. He started off the season on loan in Příbram and he scored two goals – one of which was against Pilsen.

"I am excited to sign a contract with one of the best Czech teams," said Alvir. "It’s an important step for me and my career, I want to show, what I am capable of," he promised in fluent Czech. "Pilsen is a great club, they belonged to the best in the last five years and won five titles. I believe we will regularly and repeatedly fight for the European cups and for the Czech title!"

The Croatian athlete can play at any post, but the midfield suits him perfectly. He leads the league dribble statistics (106) and he holds the second place in Příbram, after Martin Zeman, in the number of goal-scoring chance passes statistics (12). He belongs to players with most ball contacts in the opponents’ penalty area per game. During the 10th round of the league, his run count reached the 12,485 meters mark, the highest value among all league players. "I like to run with the ball, breakaway chances suit me," Avir confirms.

"Marko is in the perfect age for football. His game style is based on speed and he tends to play offensively. That is always an interesting combination. I am glad we managed to arrange his contract in Viktoria. I wish him a great deal of success in our team," said Adolf Šádek, Viktoria general manager.