STRAHINJA PAVLOVIĆ: FOCUS AND FUN FACTS

A new defender with highly interesting and distinctive characteristics to bolster Coach Fonseca's squad. 2001-born Strahinja Pavlović has arrived from Red Bull Salzburg, a team we faced in the 2022/23 Champions League. He only turned 23 in May, but the Serbian defender from Šabac has already played for several clubs and has long been destined for big things. After coming through Partizan Belgrade's youth ranks, he made his first-team debut aged 17 in a 3-0 victory over Proleter Novi Sad on 23 February 2019.

From that day forward, he's gone from strength to strength. That season saw him make eleven league appearances and start the Serbian Cup final, from which Partizan emerged victorious against historic rivals Red Star Belgrade. In the summer before the 2019/20 campaign, it seemed like he would join Lazio, but the deal fell through. He eventually signed for Monaco in the winter transfer window, although he remained at Partizan on loan until the following summer. His spell at the French club didn't exactly go according to plan and, after six months with little playing time, he was loaned to Cercle Bruges and then Basel. He never returned to Monaco, instead signing for Salzburg on a permanent deal in June 2022.

In Austria, he got playing minutes under his belt, gained in confidence and finally managed to show why, at the start of his career, so many thought he was destined to make it to the top. We mentioned his distinctive characteristics because Strahinja is a fast and aggressive defender who is good in the air, an attribute that also makes him dangerous in attack (he's already scored 16 career goals). During his time in Austria, he also frequently displayed an unusual amount of speed for a defender of his size (194 cm). Pavlović has already won 38 caps for Serbia, for whom he played as a starter in the recent European Championship in Germany. He was also a key figure for his country at the Qatar World Cup in 2022.

THE NAME 'STRAHINJA'
The Serbian player has a very striking name, one which is associated with strength and courage. Popular in the Balkans from the medieval period, it was widely used among Serbian nobles. The name was given to certain people to protect them from spirits, with the said people supposedly having the power to strike fear into spirits and evil forces. That’s why it's associated with strength, courage and fearlessness.

STOJKOVIĆ'S ANECDOTE
In a recent interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Serbia Head Coach Dragan Stojković spoke about Pavlović, recalling a story from Euro 2024. "In Germany, during the Euros, Strahinja asked for some advice regarding his future," he revealed. "I basically told him that if he had a choice, he should go to AC Milan. It's a top club, and Serie A is like a university for defenders. He was on exactly the same page and an experience in Italy was at the forefront of his mind."

SIMILARITIES WITH OKAFOR
Interestingly, the Serbian defender has two things in common with our attacker Noah Okafor: both joined AC Milan from Red Bull Salzburg at the age of 23, and both share the same birthday (Okafor was born in 2000, Pavlović in 2001).

COMPARISON TO VIDIĆ
Since the early stages of his professional career, starting from when he was still only 17 years old, Pavlović has been likened to Nemanja Vidić, a huge figure in Serbian football who played a large portion of his career at Manchester United and also had a brief spell in Italy at Inter. However, Strahinja progressed through Partizan's youth ranks, as opposed to Nemanja, who developed at Red Star Belgrade.

PASSIONS AWAY FROM THE PITCH
A strong character on the pitch, Pavlović could be described as a thinker away from the grass: in fact, he loves reading classics and socio-historical essays.

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