Kortrijk defender Ervin Zukanovic says Manchester City star Edin Dzeko owes his career to Jiri Plisek.

Zukanovic played with Dzeko at FC Zeljeznicar and is delighted seeing his good friend on the brink of winning the Premier League title.

"Back then he was not too great a worker, although he was already scoring goals very easily. But he was criticized: that he was poor, that he was too tall and technically limited," recalled Zukanovic.

"Until one day the Czech coach Jiri Plisek came into the picture. He believed in him and fetched him for the Czech second division at FK Usti. I think they paid something like $50,000 for him.

"From there he went a year later to the Czech first division at TK Teplice, where he was selected the best foreigner in the league, was called up for the national team, scored a class goal was against Turkey and for four years signed for Wolfsburg. That changed his life.

"At Wolfsburg, his body under the guidance of Felix Magath became very strong. It all changed for him from then on."