Mirko Šarić, a Croat by origin, is not very well known to the biggest football fanatics. This is a great talent that left us in 2000.
Mirko Šarić was a great Argentine talent, Real Madrid offered him 10 million dollars for him, but at the age of 21 he tragically died. The child of Croatian emigrants Ante and Marijana Šarić was expected to have a great career. Skinny, tall, with a stronger left foot, he made his first-league debut for San Lorenzo in late December 1996 at just 18 years old. He was compared to Fernando Redondo, a great Argentine star who played for Real Madrid.
Real Madrid then cast an eye on Mirko as well, offering San Lorenzo ten million dollars. "But that wasn't enough for the club to let him go. They saw him as a future star," Argentine sports newspaper Olé reported.
But something was bothering the young man. He fell into a well of depression from which he failed to escape. It was hard to find out that the child he had with his girlfriend was not his,
- He was a very sensitive guy.He did not understand bad things, he did not understand injustice. Things like that bothered him. We had to talk to him for a long time to get out of a life problem - said his younger brother Martin Šarić (40) in an interview for Olé.
- These were all things for which there were solutions, but he understood them dramatically, he added.
Mirko was 21 when he tragically passed away. That 2000 was a bad year for him. He was seriously injured playing for the reserve team against River Plate, during which the cruciate ligaments of his left knee ruptured.
The news of the child followed the injury. We tried to prepare him for that in advance, but he claimed that was not true. Until a DNA test was done to confirm that the son was not his. It was an extremely difficult situation for him, but also for all of us - said Martin.
Mirko later fell into a severe depression, and on April 4, he decided to take his own life. "Mirko, we will never forget you. We will always have in front of us your magical left, your character of a great football star, and above all the smile of a good person who lit up your face," San Lorenzo said on social media.