Serbia’s joyous future

After failing to qualify for the 2012 European Championships, the Serbian national football team is looking for an identity, a selector and perhaps even a new Football Association director. Luckily the future looks bright as a new wave of talented Serbian players are making their way into the limelight

Uros Ćosić

The 6 ft 2 in centre-back came through the ranks of Red Star Belgrade, which was enough to see him labelled the ‘new Nemanja Vidic’ at a tender age. He was soon tapped by CSKA Moscow before being loaned back to his boyhood club and making an impact there. Solid in the air, reliable in one-on-one situations, he was the only Serbian to look like a football player when the U19 national football team got ridiculed by Spain last summer during the U19 European Championships. Still prone to the odd concentration lapse, he has however settled down and what’s more, manages to improve his game when the going gets tough, as against FC Rennes in the UEFA Cup in a stadium packed with 60,000 people, or in the many derbies against arch-rival Partizan.

Filip Đuričić

The former Manchester United target is a standard feature in SC Heerenveen’s starting 11, dictating the play of the Dutch outfit with composure and flair. Stolen from his boyhood club Radnicki Obrenovac barely aged 15 by Greek giants Olympiakos, he quickly made the move to Holland where he enjoys regular playing time and is said to draw the interest of several top-notch clubs across Europe. His remaining flaws are his average finishing and a lack of resilience which he makes up for with intelligent positioning. The natural leader of the U21 Serbian national football team, he is at ease with both feet and enjoys giving a good nutmeg to his marker; like former Red Star Belgrade playmaker Vladimir Petrovic (a regular in the Ballon d’Or rankings back in the eighties) used to.

Aleksandar Ignjovski

The 21-year-old defensive midfielder has just received a call-up to represent Serbia at the senior level after two years plying his trade in Germany, firstly with 1860 Munich and now with Werder Bremen (where he was assessed as the most endurant player in the team during the pre-season preparations). His experience in the Bundesliga already makes him one of the most physically gifted box-to-box midfielders in Europe. Thomas Schaaf has played him in various positions across the pitch, first at right-back, then at left-back before letting him express his natural ability in midfield.

Aggressive and relentless inside the stadium, he is gentle and thorough outside of it as he recently graduated with a degree in goldsmithery, and is renowned for his excellent painting and drawing. How many other footballers have a degree in goldsmithery?

Filip Janković

The blond-haired attacking midfielder looks like Pavel Nedved both physically and ‘footballistically’, as Arsene Wenger would say. Recently the subject of an intense contract battle between the Red Star board, led by Robert Prosinecki, and some dodgy Israeli agents who wanted to purchase his playing rights, ‘Joorabchian style’, to sell him abroad, his mother decided he would stay put at Red Star for another couple of seasons, which cannot be a bad decision as he barely turned 17 in January. Jankovic became the youngest ever player to wear Red Star’s jersey when Prosinecki gave him his debut in the UEFA Cup preliminary round back in August, in a 7-0 rout of lowly Lithuanians Ventspils. Interestingly the previous record was held by Inter Milan legend Dejan Stankovic which was beaten by Jankovic by just one day aged 16 years, six months and 18 days – when Stankovic boasted nineteen days at the time of his debut. When you take a look at the career of the Internazionale midfielder and his 103 caps in three World Cups – for three different countries Yugoslavia, Serbia & Montenegro and Serbia which is another record, one which Stankovic would have possibly dispensed with – you can only have high hopes for Jankovic.

Darko Lazović

The Red Star winger is an all-rounder who is able to play anywhere across the midfield. He started off professionally aged 16 which allows him to boast to having featured in 90 games in the Serbian league, barely aged 21. A terrific eye for a goal coupled with great technique from set-pieces and excellent versatility has attracted the interest of several clubs already, especially Paris Saint Germain who considered an offer in the few last months. The main man in Prosinecki’s set-up, he refused offers from abroad during the summer quoting his love for Red Star. Lovely youngster!

Lazar Marković

The brightest talent to come out of the Balkans since Stevan Jovetic, the Partizan Belgrade second striker has been a regular for his club since last year, piling in goals and assists like Fiorentina’s ‘Jojo’ did before him. He received his first call-up to play for the senior Serbian team this week, all before his 18th birthday. Blessed with peerless dribbling abilities, his speed with and without the ball makes him a likely Premier League target over the next few years, which is a coincidence since his childhood dream is to play for Chelsea FC – that’s what childhood dreams are like nowadays, when you were born in 1994 and grew up watching Lampard and Makélélé on TV. Whether Roman Abramovich will make the move for the talented prospect remains to be seen, though his old friend Avram Grant, now Partizan’s manager, is said to be lobbying enthusiastically.

Adem Ljajić

Lest we forget about the 19-year-old youngster who was set to join Manchester United before work permit issues came in the way. Still blessed with the vision and first touch that enticed Sir Alex Ferguson’s scouts two years ago, Ljajic has seen his progress stall at Fiorentina and may be looking for another club to fully express his talents. His rare appearances for the Viola have shown he still has a good foot (which is good news at 19 years old) although it equally hints that his move abroad came too early. Whether he will gain back the confidence which led him to be Fiorentina’s playmaker and first choice penalty taker last season under Mihajlovic remains to be seen, as attitude problems during training are said to make Delio Rossi consider offloading him. Still retrievable if the right club comes knocking.

Matija Nastasić

A team-mate of Ljajic, the Fiorentina centre-back took the Serie A by storm this year in the wake of Cesare Natali’s injury. Making his competitive debut in September in a late substitute appearance against Bologna, he waited until November 19th to get a starting spot against no less than AC Milan, and showed immense composure throughout despite the sight of Ibrahimovic and Pato looming, helping his team secure a clean sheet against currently the best team in Italy. This ultimately led him to a starting spot in the Viola set-up, which is a feat in Italy considering his tender age – 18 years old. The youngster was tapped from Partizan Belgrade’s youth academy before he even played a single minute for the senior team by Sinisa Mihajlovic, then the Fiorentina manager who had heard great things about the robust defender. Many other compliments flowed since then, as AC Milan legend Alessandro Costacurta labelled him a ‘fuoriclasse’ (wonderkid) in the wake of Nastasic’s performance against his team. Together with Cosic, he may command the centre-back partnership that will keep Serbia’s opponents at bay in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, unless Nemanja Vidic carries a Ryan Giggs type of genetic anomaly.

Filip Mladenović

The Red Star Belgrade left-back and member of Serbia’s U21 team has been a stalwart in the Serbian Superliga since 2010 when he came through Borac Cacak’s ranks barely aged 18. Characterized by a great technique and a second to none pace with the ball at his feet, he has established himself as the player who will succeed Aleksandar Kolarov at left-back with Serbia in the coming years. His impressive displays made lowly Cacak look like a one-man team and led him to make the big move to Red Star Belgrade despite offers from abroad. There, he has forced former Werder Bremen and Sevilla FC left-back Dusko Tosic toward the centre of defence in order for him to get the space he needs on the left side of Red Star’s set-up. His link-up play with fellow U21 prospect Darko Lazovic is a joy to behold and means Red Star’s opponents generally have to get the ball on the other side of the pitch if they want to approach the goal.

Marko Petković

Mladenovic’s correspondent on the other side of Serbia’s U21 team, the OFK Belgrade youngster has a foot like a traction engine, in Alan Partridge’s words. His pace and resilience on the right wing caught the eye of many an observer and had him touted the new Branislav Ivanovic, after the Chelsea stalwart who also came through the ranks of OFK. Petkovic enjoys spending time in the opponent’s half, oftentimes relinquishing his defensive duties which remains his weak point. His agility and great movement make him a good prospect at that position, and we will certainly see him in a good European club in a few years time.

These players will lead the charge in Serbia’s bid to play the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and beyond. As one can observe, there is still a shortage of a top-class striker, the eternal problem of Serbian football. But if Serbia manages to get a decent defence and midfield, it should avoid losing to Honduras again.