Croatia 
One of the rising stars of Croatian football, Nikola Pokrivac had never even received a senior national team call-up let alone win a cap before he was surprisingly included in Slaven Bilic's Euro 2008 squad.
Born in Cakovec in the north of the country, he impressed as a youngster while playing at left-back with Varteks Varazdin before being snapped up by giants Dinamo Zagreb in January 2007.
By that stage, Pokrivac had already been a regular member of the Croatian youth teams and Dinamo successfully converted him into a defensive midfielder - but his versatility (he can also play at centre back) was attracting other admirers.
With compatriot Jerko Leko already on their books, French club AS Monaco decided to gamble on young Pokrivac and just a year after joining Dinamo, he was on the move again.
He has shown glimpses of his talent with the French club - just enough to convince Bilic to take him to Austria, primarily as a left-back option.
