Jan Mlakar

Thirty-two goals in a single Slovenian under-15 season at Domžale put Jan Mlakar on the radar early, and in January 2015 Fiorentina paid around €1 million for him. Two years later he made his Serie A debut, then spent a season on loan at Venezia.

The path back to prominence ran through Slovenia. Fiorentina sold him to Maribor in early 2018, keeping half of any future fee, and he won the PrvaLiga title there in 2018–19. He later shared the league's top-scorer award in 2020–21. That first Maribor spell earned him a move to Brighton & Hove Albion in January 2019 for a reported €3–4 million — a transfer that never turned into a first-team appearance. He was loaned to Queens Park Rangers and then Wigan Athletic, but did not play a competitive match for the club that bought him.

The rebuild happened in Croatia. Hajduk Split signed him in July 2021 for roughly €300,000, and he won the Croatian Cup twice, in 2021–22 and 2022–23. In the same period he broke into the senior Slovenia side, debuting in June 2021; he has 29 caps and four goals, and was part of the squad at Euro 2024. As a junior he had been the top scorer at the 2015 UEFA Under-17 Championship qualifying round with eight goals.

Pisa paid about €3 million for him in August 2023. A loan took him back to Hajduk in January 2025, and in August 2025 he joined Amiens, again on loan. There he made 14 league appearances for 480 minutes and one goal. In July 2026 Pisa loaned him to Maribor.