The latest Aston Villa transfer news from BirminghamLive as Serbian football expert Kristijan Plazonja gives the lowdown on Kosta Nedeljkovic
Kosta Nedeljkovic has been unveiled as Aston Villa’s first signing of the January transfer window and Serbian football expert Kristijan Plazonja gave us the lowdown on what to expect from the teenage sensation.
Nedeljkovic only turned 18 last month and will spend the rest of the season on loan at Crvena Zvezda after Villa agreed a £6.5million deal plus add-ons with the Serbian champions. The highly-rated right-back is unknown to many supporters, but is a player Villa have tracked for some time.
“His athleticism is a key quality, he is tall, fast, he has a wide frame and lots of stamina,” Kristijan explains. “He has excellent movement without the ball and also has a lot of untapped defensive potential, which was a key quality in the youth leagues, but he’s still adjusting to the tempo of it at senior level
“Kosta is very intelligent and is aware of his current limitations. He will always try to do what’s best for the team and has no ego. The technical part of his game requires some refinement, including his end-product.
“The attacking movement he has and the threat he causes, plus his athleticism reminds of Denzel Dumfries, but I’d say Kosta is more intelligent as a footballer. Right now he has much less of a goal threat.
“In the right hands, he’s definitely a top ten Premier League player, perhaps more, but it depends on the development in his position. At the very highest level, the full-back role is evolving, however he’s a more traditional right-back.
“Don’t expect him to invert, or make play from deep. He’s very much an overlapping fullback with an incredible engine.”
Crvena Zvezda have a long history of developing talented youngsters, including Nemanja Matic, Nemanja Vidic, Marko Grujic, Ivan Ilic, and Luka Jovic. Kristijan believes Crvena Zvezda have agreed to sell Nedeljkovic too early given that he might represent his nation at EURO 2024.
