Football club Vojvodina is still not giving up on the extension of cooperation with Jovan Milošević, sports director Marko Jovanović confirmed today.
In numerous media, information appeared that Jovan Milošević is in negotiations with German Stuttgart, therefore, the club wants to inform the public that it will consider all offers and options, but that Vojvodina’s position has not changed.
From the very beginning and the arrival of the new administration headed by president Dragoljub Zbiljić, and the new sports director Marko Jovanović and Manager Milan Rastavac, the only goal of Vojvodina was for Jovan Milošević to get one of the strongest contracts for his age in Serbian football, but until now there was no agreement.
– First of all, we have to go back to the very beginning and I must say that we officially joined the club on the first of June, while Jovan Milošević was at the European Championship, together with Bukinac, Kovačev and Majstorović. Even before that tournament, as his agent later revealed to us, they had already entered into negotiations with Stuttgart since March, which made the situation difficult for us in the negotiations. The failure of the club is that a contract with Jovan Milošević was not offered and signed before the EURO, but as we know, during that period Vojvodina was in a big transition, so due to the whole situation it was not easy to achieve it. What we professionally did as soon as we joined the club was that we accompanied our players to the European Championship and upon their return, we immediately added Majstorović and Milošević to the first team. We sold Majstorović very quickly for a huge amount of money and it was an offer that could not be refused. We dealt with Jovan by carefully dosing minutes due to his age through training sessions and friendly matches, and at the same time negotiated a new contract and continuation of cooperation. The first thing that he and his agent told us was that their first wish was abroad and that they were not interested in staying in the Super League of Serbia. Also, we were told that we can negotiate a new contract only after the summer transfer window passes. We were persistent in the negotiations, and at the same time we dealt with its development as if he will remain in Vojvodina. He played some friendly matches in Slovenia and made his debut already in the first game in the championship against Napredak, where he played 30 minutes at the age of 17. In the first five games, he played a significant amount of minutes, where we clearly showed that we needed him and made it clear that we wanted him in Vojvodina. When the championship started, we again established contact for negotiations, but neither that minutes nor our approach changed anything, and again the agent told us that Jovan’s wish was to go abroad as soon as possible, to be more precise to Stuttgart. Even after those negotiations, coach Rastavac inserted Milošević in the sixth round against Radnik, when he also played for half an hour. We still tried to agree on the continuation of cooperation, but they simply did not want to, which in a way bought time until the transfer window passed. We offered a serious financial contract, which no 17-year-old could refuse in Serbian football. Then we learned that finances were not important either, because Milošević’s wish was still to go to Germany, and that idea had not changed since March. When we joined the club, we came to the end of the line, but we still do not give up and I think that it is best for Jovan Milošević to stay in Vojvodina and to leave here as a developed player like our biggest stars left – Krasić, Jovanović, Kačar, Tadić and many others. Vojvodina brought him from a smaller environment and provided him with all the conditions to become a national team player and to develop in the right direction, and the club deserved Milošević to sign a new contract. Apart from Stuttgart, Vojvodina has two more offers for Milošević, the club will consider all options, but our first wish is still for Jovan to stay with us. Also, I would add that, having learned from this experience, we continue to look for young and top talents, already now and in the future. We have already extended the contracts with Bukinac, and soon Kovačev and another young player from our school will sign, which we will talk about in the coming period – announced on behalf of FK Vojvodina sports director Marko Jovanović.
