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On this day twenty-four years ago, Savo Milosevic signed for Aston Villa for a fee of around £3,500,000.
Words by Regan Foy | @FindFoy
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On this day in 1995, exactly twenty-four years ago, Aston Villa signed the most prolific Serbian player ever to grace the Premier League for a fee of around £3,500,000 – a then club record.
Across three seasons, Savo Milosevic scored 29 goals in an Aston Villa shirt, and the likes of Dusan Tadic, Branislav Ivanovic, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Luka Milivojevic have either tried and failed, or still have a number of goals to score before they reach the tally and take the ‘Highest Scoring Serb’ title from Savo.
In his debut season in claret and blue, he scored twelve goals and helped the club to finish fourth, before scoring the opener in the 1996 EFL Cup final against Leeds – a game which ended 3-0.
Milosevic also holds the title of being the first player of Serbian nationality to play within the Premier League, inspiring others such as the aforementioned talents to make the move across Europe.
Whilst Brian Little’s signing became an important figure for younger fans of that generation, a number of fans would refer to the forward as ‘Miss-a-lot-evic’ due to the frequent dry spells that he would face in front of goal.
Currently, Savo Milosevic is trying his hand at management at the club he began his career at, FK Partizan, after spending time in a role as a director within the Serbian Footballing Association – where he has had to make comments regarding racism towards English national team players on two occasions.
In his thirteen outings as FK Partizan manager, he has achieved a 62% win ratio, with eight wins, one draw, and four losses.
