Step forward Noa Skoko, 17-year-old son of golden generation orchestrator Josip.
 
A midfielder in the mould of his fabled father, Skoko junior is following an identical trajectory at club level as he forges his future at Hajduk Split, the club Josip made 149 appearances for across two spells during his 16-year professional career.
 
However, at least for now, the Manchester-born, Australia-raised budding No.8 has opted to represent the land of his forebears as he charts his own path in Europe.
 
With approaching 10 appearances already for Croatia at junior level, Skoko was in Norway overnight representing Croatia’s U-17s in their Elite Round 2023 Euro qualifier.
 
And all that off the back of helping Hajduk knock over Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund en route to the semi-finals of the UEFA Youth League where they now face mighty AC Milan.
 
After joining possibly Croatia’s most celebrated club last year, the ex-Geelong Warriors junior has been joined by dad Josip with brother Luka, another emerging midfielder, already based on the Dalmatian coast where the family have a second home.
 
The emergence of the elegant youngster - whose game is eerily reminiscent of his 51-cap father’s - has been turning heads.
 
He was firmly on the radar of the green and gold but Croatia jumped in first, and Skoko senior is refreshingly impartial over which nation Noa ultimately ends up representing.
 
“Noa’s playing at a really good level both for his club and also with the (Croatia) national team,” Skoko told FTBL.
 
“Everything is on his doorstep in terms of logistics and travel and he’s following a pathway where there are heaps of opportunities.
 
“It wasn’t a difficult choice because when you play for Australia you have to travel all around the world for qualifiers against teams where you’re winning 21-0 and 14-0.
 
“Here in Europe they’re playing teams like Wales and Turkey and it’s a very different dynamic. It’s so much easier to be part of the current system for him here. But what happens in the future, who knows?”
 
Noa is free to make the switch to Australia at some point under FIFA rules - and he’s not being pressured by his dad to follow any particular path.
 
“It’s really a decision for him if and when the time comes,” added Skoko, whose career included a stint in the EPL with Wigan.
 
“For me, I developed in Australia at the AIS and the Young Socceroos and I felt I belonged to that group coming through.
 
“For Noa, his path is a little bit different. For now it makes sense to play for Croatia, later on it may not. The ball is in his court whether he wants to play for one or another.
 
“There are actually a lot of similarities to our games - I spent a lot of time coaching him as a youngster (at Geelong) so I suppose that’s no so surprising.
 
“He’s at an age where he has to knuckle down and play as much as he can, and hopefully in a year or two he’ll be looking sign a professional contract somewhere.
 
“He’s enjoying his football and developing his game. He’s a very creative player who can pick a pass. He also has good engines on him and can also score his fair share of goals.