Sasha Gracanin
The media has been buzzing lately about the two apparent wunderkinds, who are about to be purchased by Manchester United. Unfortunately, nobody seems to know anything about the two. The little which was available professed that these two, the one supposed to replace Giggs, the other one probably the long term replacement for the unhappy Ronaldo and already nicknamed Kaka, are completely unknown to the British public, but everybody seems to be talking about them. Who are these two and are they really worth all that gossip?
Zoran Tosic, the 21 year-old attacker, actually winger, currently playing for Partizan Belgrade, has been with the team for almost two seasons. Born in the city of Zrenjanin, a small rural city in Vojvodina, a Serbian province, played for the local club, Proleter Zrenjanin and was not really remarkable. The move to the other club in Zrenjanin, Banat, has proven to be even less impressive. The run with Partizan Belgrade looks a little bit better, but would not really impress anybody who knows the state the Serbian league is in.
Why is Sir Alex Ferguson so eager to get this kid?
Tosic is definitely the less talented of the two, although he has a really mean shot. A very accurate free kick specialist, he reminds one of a young Del Piero, rather than Ryan Giggs, whereby I miss the aggressiveness in the field. If you have a free kick, you may give the kick to Tosic and more often than not it will be a goal. In gameplay, if he is not blocked properly, from distances as far as 35 meters his shots are lethal.
If Zoran needs to dribble his way to goal, you are better off if he simply gives the ball to the other team. He is nicknamed “Bambi”, because of his frail stature. If a muscled monster player just runs by him, someone like Javier Zanetti or Adriano, the wind alone will probably knock him out cold. The rough play in the Premier League is something he will not be able to cope with, unless serious muscle and endurance training takes place, which will very likely take at least a year to give effect. If you recall, Nemanja Vidic, who came to Manchester United a few years back, needed almost a year to get up to speed and he was already a very tough playing bloke when he booked the cruise.
The verdict about Tosic is to be very careful what you do with him. If you put him into the team too early, he will contract a serious injury within a month. If you build his stamina and muscle mass for a year, and then slowly bring him into the play, you may wind up with a very serious player with some solid talent and a mean shot which may dwarf the late Ludo Coeck’s killer distance efforts.
What about Adem Ljajic?
He is a complete unknown 17 year-old talent from Novi Pazar, a small city in the south of Serbia, pretty close to the now separated Kosovo province. He is nicknamed Kaka because of his gameplay, although I’d rather describe him as a weird mixture of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Ronaldinho and Messi. Undeniably, he is the more talented of the two and that should actually mean something here. I could imagine that this kid, if properly trained and conditioned, could very easily replace Christian Ronaldo. To be honest, I do not think that Ronaldo is that good of a dribbler like Adem Ljajic, who definitely has some of the legendary Brazilian flair to his game, something Yugoslavia used to be famous for.
What to say about the 17 year-old? It would be a mistake to force him into the team right away. He does not have the stamina, muscle and endurance to survive 45 minutes on the pitch without getting plowed away. He is not fast, though you get the impression that he could be, if he only gets properly trained. He definitely has the playfulness of a Messi, chooses to rather dribble through than pass, which most of the time he succeeds in, nevertheless, his passes are almost always on the money, which achingly recalls the accuracy of a Beckham or perhaps Luis Figo.
If Ronaldo stayed for another season then United could slowly build up this kid. After the year has passed and the kid can really cope with the high energy requirements and speed of the Premier League, then you can even get rid of the Portuguese, who slowly but surely seems to sabotage his good name on purpose and plays less and less well. The red card against Manchester City proves that he is not really keen on playing for Man Utd anymore and probably would love to be sold to Real Madrid or even Barcelona. If Adem Ljajic receives the proper training, like Nemanja Vidic received, then nobody will ever miss Ronaldo, which is a very big statement.
The biggest problem with Ljajic is his youth. Unfortunately, Serbian players tend to get very full of themselves, if they reach the top too early and with almost no effort. I will only remind you of Sasa Curcic, an incredibly talented player, who simply ruined his career because of his big head and typical Serbian ignorance.
What is the conclusion?
I would say that Zoran Tosic is a little bit over-hyped. The Serbian league is really bad and shooting goals is no rocket science in this competition at the moment. He is talented, has a mean shot, but on the other hand, his gameplay is weak and his endurance nonexistent. The whole team, including Adem Ljajic, is playing to complement his shooting abilities, therefore he looks very good. If you put him in a team where very good and talented individuals are not only playing in a whole other universe, but also seriously competing against each other, in his current condition, he has no chance.
I will remind you of another Partizan player, who was similarly hyped up, but deflated into oblivion, Mateja Kezman. While he was playing with Partizan and PSV, where the team was working in order to provide him with opportunities, he was okay, as soon as Kezman needed to work on his own, he disappeared from public view. Be very careful, what you do with this one, Mr. Ferguson.
Adem Ljajic is an incredibly talented individual. I would place his talent above that of Bojan Krkic. If properly handled, and I have no reason to believe that Mr. Ferguson will make a mistake here, Ljajic can easily replace Kaka, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho or any of the names you may put forth. I’d bind him with at least a five-year contract, with an option to prolong it for another five.
Talents like Zoran Tosic come and go, some shine brightly, some only for a short time, but talents like Adem Ljajic happen very seldom. I have to repeat myself and say it again: Be very careful, what you do with this one, Mr. Ferguson!
