Ex-Chelsea Wonderkid Slobodan Rajkovic: Where Is He Now?

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If Serbian centre-back Slobodan Rajkovic, 26, had met Chelsea‘s expectations, then John Terry might be playing in Major League Soccer.

Rajkovic losing prestige meant he never challenged Terry, who recently earned a new contract at 34 years of age and is a mentor to Kurt Zouma.

Let’s see how the career of Rajkovic has progressed.

 

The Wunderkind That Never Was 

November 21, 2005.

OFK Belgrade announcing the sale of Rajkovic to Chelsea coincided with Terry “enduring a rare off-day” and suffering a “groin strain” against Newcastle United, per Jon Brodkin at the Guardian.

The following clubs were reportedly chasing Rajkovic, per BBC Sport.

OFK Belgrade relinquished Rajkovic when Chelsea offered €5.1/£3.5 million, a sky-high fee sum for a schoolboy. The Blues immediately loaned him back to the Serbian club until he turned 18 years old.

Continuing a mutually beneficial relationship with PSV Eindhoven, Chelsea loaned Rajkovic out, hoping that he would develop like Alex, per Algemeen Dagblad (h/t Gerrit van Leeuwen at Sky Sports).

“I am obviously delighted to play for such a big club as PSV Eindhoven,” Rajkovic said, per PSV TV. “I know about all the players, but in particular those who operate in my position.”

  1. Carlos Salcido.
  2. Dirk Marcellis.
  3. Eric Addo.

Salcido and Addo were experienced, while Marcellis’ ceiling was Jaap Stam 2.0.

Consigned to squad-filler status, Rajkovic watched then-Chelsea loanee Alcides plug holes as a utility player.

We don’t know how Rajkovic, tipped for greatness, felt when Alcides was playing. However, incredulous would probably be an apt description. 

Alcides was Chelsea’s version of Bebe.

A borderline professional footballer, Alcides strangely found himself on the squad lists of several prominent European clubs: Schalke, Chelsea, Benfica and PSV Eindhoven.

Chelsea tried quelling questions over their involvement with Alcides, per Daniel King at the Daily Mail: “He’s not our player but we hold first option to buy him, much like the option we had with Alex.”

PSV Eindhoven must have been a quirky experience for Rajkovic.

  • Kenneth Perez defected from Ajax to PSV Eindhoven—then rejoined Ajax. 
  • Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (33 goals) and Luis Suarez (16 goals) combined for 49 goals, yet Ajax still failed to win the Eredivisie.
  • Meanwhile, PSV Eindhoven won the Eredivisie having had three different managers. Ronald Koeman resigned to coach Valencia. Jan Wouters took over as caretaker before he was replaced by another caretaker in Sef Vergoossen, whose previous job was managing Arsene Wenger’s old club Nagoya Grampus in Japan.

Rather than offer the regurgitated public relations response of wishing Rajkovic the best of luck in his future endeavours, PSV Eindhoven were blunt in explaining the reasoning behind not renewing his loan:

“Rajkovic spent last season with PSV Eindhoven,” per the club’s official website. “He did not feature in the first team to a great extent due to the fierce competition for places in the starting 11.”

 

Prolonged Adversity

Then-Twente manager Steve McClaren punted on Rajkovic, taking the struggling teenager on loan from Chelsea.

“Many clubs, especially in England, wanted [Rajkovic’s] signature,” McClaren said, per Twente’s official website (h/t Sky Sports). “I want to have as strong a squad as possible with competition for places in each position.”

Playing for Serbia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Rajkovic was not named as an outstanding player by the technical study group, yet compatriots Gojko Kacar and Zoran Tosic were.

Though neither is a defender, the centre-backs selected as outstanding players by the FTSG were slim pickings.

It was an indictment of Rajkovic’s real quality, per FIFA:

  • Andre Bikey (Cameroon).
  • Li Weifeng (China).
  • Ryan Nelsen (New Zealand).

Instead of showing up on the world stage, Rajkovic not only underwhelmed but embarrassed Serbia, Chelsea and Twente.

Like ESPN’s Britt McHenry channelling her inner Regina George, Rajkovic briefly lost sense of decorum as he spat in the direction of referee Abdullah Al Hilali during Argentina’s 2-0 win over Serbia.

The FIFA Disciplinary Committee threatened to derail Rajkovic’s career by suspending him for 12 months in club and international competition, per FIFA.

Then-Twente chairman Joop Munsterman was frustrated at having paid for Rajkovic, who could not play because he was suspended.

“We could have had Rajkovic [playing] for three months already, and we paid a lot of money for him,” Munsterman said, per Voetbal International (h/t ESPN FC). “We don’t like it at all that the [suspension] has lingered on already for so long.”

Appealing the suspension, FIFA upheld the international ban but allowed Rajkovic to resume playing for Twente, per the Associated Press (h/t USA Today).

Unable to play for Serbia further dented Rajkovic’s hopes of qualifying for a work permit to play in the Premier League, so his loan at Twente was extended for another campaign.

Rajkovic played 23 league games over two seasons at Twente.

He was backing up Douglas and Peter Wisgerhof as McClaren led Twente to the 2009/10 Eredivisie title.

Playing a fourth successive Eredivisie season, Chelsea loaned Rajkovic to Vitesse along with compatriot Nemanja Matic.

Then-Vitesse technical director Ted van Leeuwen revealed there was an option to extend both Serbians’ loans into permanent deals at the end of the season.

“Vitesse are very pleased that Rajkovic and Matic have joined the club,” Van Leeuwen said, per Stefan Coerts at Goal. “Vitesse had been monitoring both players for quite a while.”

 

Sliding Doors Moment

During the 2011 January transfer window, the lives of Rajkovic and Matic irreparably changed.

Chelsea were willing to deal away either Jeffrey Bruma, Patrick van Aanholt or Rajkovic plus money to Benfica to land David Luiz, per Dominic Fifield at The Guardian.

Benfica turned down all three options. They demanded Matic—their scouts were right on the money.

Benfica sold Luiz to Chelsea for €25/£21.3 million plus Matic, who Chelsea bought back for €25.3/£21 million in 2014.

Vitesse signing Rajkovic permanently never came to fruition.

Being pulled all over the place by a bunch of modest pros inspired by Willie Overtoom during Heracles Almelo‘s 6-1 win over Vitesse probably sunk Rajkovic’s case to qualify as an “exceptional talent” to gain a work permit to play in the Premier League.

“I would prefer to stay at Chelsea even though I know I would even have to fight for a place on the bench,” Rajkovic said, per Matt Barlow at the Daily Mail. “My greatest wish is to still be in London.”

Like his talent, his wish was unfulfilled.

 

Hamburg Bust

Chelsea sold Rajkovic to Hamburg for a nominal fee of €2/£1.8 million in 2011.

He immediately faced questions from the German media over his integrity.

“Sadly cameras never captured [me spitting] so that I could exonerate myself, but I know in my heart that I was guilty of nothing,” Rajkovic said, per Hamburg’s official website. “That is in the past, and now I am only looking forward to playing for Hamburg.”

Here is what Rajkovic looked forward to.

November 1, 2011, per Clark Whitney at Goal: Receives three-match suspension for elbowing Christian Tiffert in a 1-1 draw against Kaiserslautern.

July 14, 2012, per Hamburg’s official webite: “Suspended until further notice” for being involved in a fight with then-Hamburg golden child Heung-Min Son.

November 3, 2012, per Transfermarkt: Dropped to Hamburg II, starting in a 2-0 defeat to Wolfsburg II.

November 6, 2012, per Hamburg’s official website: Tears hamstring.

April 10, 2013, per Transfermarkt: Dropped to Hamburg II, starting in a 2-2 draw against ETSV Weiche.

March 30, 2013, per Kicker: Fourteen Hamburg footballers had the misfortune of playing in a 9-2 defeat to Bayern Munich. Rajkovic was one of the 12 Hamburg players who received the worst rating possible (6.0; graded from 1.0 to 6.0, the lower the better).

March 3, 2014, per Hamburg’s official website: “The diagnosis was nerve shattering as the news came back that Rajkovic has damaged cruciate ligaments in his left knee. He will undergo surgery next week and will be out of action for six to eight months.”

This season, Rajkovic has been his club’s fourth-choice centre-back behind Cleber, Heiko Westermann, and Johan Djourou.

Hamburg are currently bottom of the Bundesliga having accumulated just 25 points from 28 games.

 

What Rajkovic Means To Chelsea

  • Sergio Ramos | Sevilla → Real Madrid: €27/£18.4 million (19 years old, 2005).
  • Slobodan Rajkovic | OFK Belgrade → Chelsea: €5.1/£3.5 million (16 years old, 2005).
  • Ezequiel Garay | Newell’s Old Boys → Racing Santander: €1.4 million/£959,420 (19 years old, 2006).
  • Cristian Zapata | Deportivo Cali → Udinese: €500,000/£341,450 (18 years old, 2005).

Real Madrid accurately projected Ramos would develop into a world-class defender, but at the time, it was not a value-for-money deal.

You presume Chelsea sought a cheaper alternative to Ramos in Rajkovic.

Comparing Rajkovic to Garay and Zapata, there is a glaring discrepancy in the transfer fees and age.

Garay (Real Madrid, Benfica, FC Zenit) and Zapata (Villarreal, AC Milan) have had periods of elite form in their careers.

Chelsea were overzealous and overpaid OFK Belgrade for Rajkovic.

Like Real Madrid banking on Ramos, you assume Chelsea went all in on Rajkovic believing he was a can’t-miss prospect.

He wasn’t.

He never qualified for a work permit by playing 75 per cent of his nation’s games during the two years preceding an application or as an exceptional talent.

Do you know who the anti-Rajkovic is? Thibaut Courtois.

Chelsea signed Courtois from Genk as a 19-year-old for €9/£7.9 million in 2011. The Belgian was subsequently loaned out to Atletico Madrid for three seasons and has since supplanted Petr Cech as Chelsea’s No. 1.

Post-Rajkovic, Chelsea incorporated non-English prospects such as Charly Musonda, Andreas Christensen and Jeremie Boga into the 2015 UEFA Youth League winning team.

The net loss of €3.1/£1.7 million on Rajkovic has been worthwhile as an invaluable case study to Chelsea when identifying foreign talent.

 

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When not specified, statistics via WhoScored.com. 

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