England beware: Mad Mirko is out to show us the Three Lions are simply pants
His first coach in Italy’s Serie A likened his creative flair to Vincent Van Gogh, but others since have seen him trudge disconsolately off the pitch still staring at a blank canvas.
England cannot be sure which Mirko Vucinic will turn up at the Podgorica Stadium on Tuesday night, but they can be sure of one thing. They dare not take their eyes off him for so much as a second.
Bologna did, during Juventus' most recent Serie A encounter at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, and the Montenegro skipper made them pay with a goal and an assist to wrap up a 2-0 victory.
Eccentric: Montenegro striker Mirko Vucinic celebrates scoring against the Swiss in 2010
Nothing had been seen of him up to the hour mark, when he suddenly sprang into life with two inspired touches. The first laid the ball into the path of Claudio Marchisio and the second despatched it past the Bologna goalkeeper from his team-mate’s return pass. Less than 10 minutes later, the roles were reversed, with Vucinic the provider for Marchisio to finish off Bologna.
Inspired: The Juventus striker is capable of the spectacular
It was the sort of attacking brilliance that can turn a game in an instant and Pavel Nedved viewed it as an object lesson for England ahead of their World Cup qualifier against the group leaders.
Juventus’ former midfielder still keenly follows his old club’s fortunes and has seen enough of Vucinic to know the dangers lurking for Roy Hodgson's team.
'I love watching him play, because he is a genius, a total genius,' said Nedved. 'He can be infuriating with the way he disappears from games.
'There are times when he is almost invisible and it drives you mad.
'But then he’ll do something amazing that lifts you out of your seat and you love him for it.
'His goal at Bologna was a classic example. He did virtually nothing, but then the ball was in their net before they could blink.'
Vucinic wasted little time announcing himself to Serie A after being discovered by Lecce sporting director Pantaleo Corvino when playing for a local team in his home city of Niksic at the age of 16.
Corvino’s renown for spotting emerging talent in Eastern Europe has seldom served him better, as the teenage Vucinic forced his way into Lecce’s first team.
At just turned 20, he racked up 19 goals in a season comprising only 28 League appearances.
It was a stellar display of goalscoring that brought him glowing tributes all round, not least from his own coach Delio Rossi, who said: 'Watching Mirko play football is like watching Van Gogh paint a masterpiece.'
Vucinic’s goals have occasionally been hailed as works of art, not least one that may have helped to seal his move to Juventus, when he wrecked their Coppa Italia hopes with an opportunist strike for Roma in Turin.
Controlling a long, raking pass from Daniele De Rossi on the left flank, he weaved inside two challenges before curling a shot into the far corner for the opening goal in a 2-0 win.
High Praise: Montenegro team-mate Stevan Jovetic (above) and former Juventus star Pavel Nedved (below) have been singing Vucinic's praises
Vucinic can score from distance, too, as demonstrated by a 35-yard thunderbolt for Juventus that did for AC Milan in last season’s Coppa semi-final. He is his country’s leading marksman.
Should he add to his tally against England, watch out for his often eccentric take on how to celebrate.
At Roma, he once mimicked a Francesco Totti routine by leaping over the advertising boards and grabbing a camera from a photographer, before pointing it at fans behind the goal and pretending to take their picture.
His most bizarre celebration followed his winning goal in a Euro 2012 qualifier against Switzerland, when he shrugged aside the congratulations of team-mates and whipped off his shorts before placing them on his head and standing, arms raised, in a pair of white briefs.
It cost him a yellow card, although no-one was unduly concerned, given the brilliant, dink over a bamboozled Switzerland goalkeeper that maintained his country’s 100 per cent start to the campaign and kept them at the top of Group G.
'No-one is quite sure why he did that, but it was typical of how he likes to do something different,’ said his Montenegro team-mate Stevan Jovetic.
'He is an inspiration for me because he is so inventive. We have played together a long time now, but he still manages to surprise me with some of the things he comes up with.
'You just don’t see it coming. There is no-one like him for improvising.'
Weaving his magic: Vucinic attempts to outmanoeuvre Gareth Barry and Wayne Rooney (above) and another celebration (below)
Away from the pitch, Vucinic is notoriously uncommunicative with the Italian media and is known as a difficult interviewee. He has a caring side, however, that came to the fore last year when he set up his own website to convey messages to fans and raise funds for needy causes.
Autographed Panini stickers are still being sold to finance a scheme to provide clean water for children in Africa, while the boots he wore against Chelsea in this season’s Champions' League were auctioned to generate cash for a children's charity in Turin.
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