With Liverpool reportedly jumping ahead of Inter Milan in the queue to sign the Red Star Belgrade prospect, Outside90’s Frank Garrasi takes a look at who Marko Grujic is and how far he can go in the game.
Serbian giants Red Star Belgrade have nurtured some fine talent in the years gone by, however, 19-year-old Marko Grujic has been described as the best academy graduate to rise through the club’s esteemed youth system since Lazio and Inter legend Dejan Stankovic – one of the best midfielders in the game during his prime.
€5 million is the price tag laid upon the youngster, one which is easily affordable – and a bargain it must be said – and Liverpool have reportedly acted swiftly in agreeing a deal with the capital club ahead of Inter Milan, who sought instead to negotiate that fee.
The reason for the low price is not due to the quality of the player, as there is a considerable amount of hype surrounding the 19-year-old, rather the fact that Red Star are in a perilous position financially, with debts in the region of €40 million, and found themselves kicked out of the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League campaign due to a breach in Financial Fair Play regulations. In order to gain a UEFA licence needed to participate in the Champions League next season – which the club is likely to qualify for, with a 25 point lead in the Serbian SuperLiga after just 22 games played – debts owed to former players need to be payed off, and the €5 million sale will help accomplish this.
Enough about Red Star’s troubles, though, and more onto the player himself.
An energetic box-to-box midfielder standing at 6’3″, Grujic’s style of play has seen him compared to the likes of Yaya Toure and Patrick Vieira in the way he can reach both penalty areas without ever seeming to be in full flight.
He possesses the engine, work rate and athleticism required to boss the middle of midfield, whilst also being blessed with the technical ability, vision and defensive aptitude needed in order to operate in a more advanced role or deeper, as he does currently with Red Star. Even at just 19 years of age Red Star’s no.8 is a vital player for the side – he is the player his teammates look to when creating opportunities in which to attack due to his ability to bring the ball out of the defence and into the midfield.
Grujic also possesses somewhat of a goal threat, having scored five times in 19 league appearances this season. Most of the young Serb’s goals involve shots from range, with the 19-year-old boasting wondrous technique in striking a ball from distance, much like Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba, players he has been compared to in his native Serbia and Italy respectively.
The Red Star midfielder was a winner in the Under-20 World Cup earlier this year in New Zealand, playing alongside some of the hottest prospects ever to grace Serbian football, such as Predrag Rajkovic (played in the Champions League with Maccabi Tel Aviv this season), Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (earned a move to Lazio shortly after the tournament) and Andrija Zivkovic (linked with Chelsea in the summer).
As well as this, there is a humble and loyal nature to Grujic, who stated he would prefer to remain with Red Star, the club he has been with since the age of nine, to help ensure that they qualify for the Champions League in 2016-17. The U20 World Cup winner also said his next move (looking most likely to be the Reds) will be dependent upon the amount of playing time he would receive rather than money.
This is where the effect of Jurgen Klopp comes in. The German has a proven track record of developing youngsters during his time in Germany with both Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, with Grujic more likely to see first team action at Anfield rather than at the San Siro under Roberto Mancini, who bought 32-year-old Felipe Melo rather than integrate 19-year-old Ivorian Assane Gnoukouri into the squad.
Any potential transfer involving the young Serb is likely to be finalised in the coming days and will see the teenager return to Red Star on loan until the end of the season, with the club being able to use to money received from the transfer to pay off the debts owed to former players.
Just how far Grujic can go in the game is up to him, though he appears to be grounded enough to not seek riches over playing opportunities, whilst hungry and ambitious enough to improve as a player. Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp offers the Serbian midfielder a better chance to develop than at Inter Milan, and he can go on to become a Kop great as well as one of the best midfield enforcers in the Premier League.
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