Rooney – 19 years old – Man Red
Everybody stop what you’re doing. Stop the presses, and listen: here is the best wonderkid of PES5. Even better than Ronaldo, you ask? Well – and if you are a Man Red fan, you are glad to have…both on your team -, Ronaldo is already a legendary dribbler, and though Rooney only has one item above 90 on his attributes sheet, he simultaneously has only…three items under 75, one of them being Defense, the others Heading and Jump. Rooney is therefore a fantastic all-around footballer: he is strong, energetic, fast, skilled, passes the ball brilliantly, shoots it even better, and to top it all off – unlike his young Portuguese teammate – he is mentally superb (80 Mentality and Teamwork). With eight special skills too, as a mere 19-year-old Rooney is already one of the best players in the PES5 world. Witnessing his evolution on Master League save is an exquisite virtual pleasure. Give me Rooney and ten pieces of wood and I shall win the WEFA Championships.
A generational talent, Rooney had already played more than a hundred professional football matches at the highest level before PES5 was released. He made his debut for Everton’s first team in 2002 at the age of 16, and well, once he got a taste of regular football – grabbing an incredible 37 appearances and eight goals on his debut campaign – Rooney never really gave up on it, playing very often or almost always on every single season until the current day; that is, almost twenty years later. On the following campaign, Rooney continues his rise as a young footballer – 40 matches played and nine goals scored – but his team disappoints and is almost relegated to the Championship; anyway, his time with the club was clearly over. Naturally attracting attention from all the top sides in England, Manchester United ultimately wins the race and acquires Rooney for more than 25M pounds, a record for an under-20 footballer at the time – when in fact he has just…18 years old. The rest, my friends, as they say, is history. Rooney scores a hattrick on his debut with the Red Devils shirt on against Fenerbahçe on a Champions League match; he goes on to play a total of 43 games and score 17 goals on his inaugural season at Manchester, an incredible record for such a young footballer.
Rooney cements his legacy as one of the greatest players ever to wear United’s shirt, as well as his status amongst the best footballers of the new millennium with his fabulous thirteen seasons at Manchester (!!!), grabbing a total of 559 appearances and 253 goals. He leads Manchester United’s all-time top scorer list ahead of Bobby Charlton and, when it comes to Premier League goals, only Alan Shearer surpassed him. Perhaps more interesting than that, he combined loads of goals scored with assists: Rooney is third on the Premier League’s all-time assist list. His brilliant reign at Manchester also brought him the opportunity to fill his trophy case with loads of silverware. Rooney conquers a total of five Premier League titles (2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013), five editions of the Community Shield (2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2016), four Football League Cups (2006, 2009, 2010 and 2017) and one FA Cup in 2016. As for continental conquests, Rooney led his team to a Champions League title in 2008 – later that year winning the Club World Cup too – and, as a memorable farewell to this historic club, an Europa League win in 2017.
Just a few months after that particular conquest, it is announced that Rooney would return to Everton, thirteen years after he left for United. As usual, Rooney has little trouble establishing himself there; the man plays 40 matches and scores eleven goals on Everton’s 8th place finish. But this adventure would not last very long. Just one year after joining the Toffees, Rooney would be about to play some football overseas for the first time in his long career, signing for USA’s DC United. As the Washington-based side’s undisputed footballing leader, Rooney scores twelve goals in 21 games and carries his team on his shoulders to a MLS Playoff appearance, but after his team’s 4th place finish in the eastern conference, DC United can’t reach the semifinals. On the subsequent campaign, again his team reaches the playoffs but, once more, they lose their first playoff match and are out of the competition as a consequence – even though our wonderkid shines, as always, netting thirteen goals in 30 matches.
Rooney had something else up in his sleeve to keep things interesting. Derby County decides to give him a job as a player-coach combo and, as soon as Rooney lands, he is already making waves on the Championship, assisting the first goal of a 2-1 win on his debut. Despite having joined Derby halfway through the 2019/20 season, Rooney goes on to grab 24 appearances and score six goals on the club’s mid-table finish. Currently, he is Derby County’s interim manager, alongside Liam Rosenior, Shay Given and Justin Walker; things are however going awfully for Derby is currently rock-bottom in the Championship, and not even Rooney’s ten games played so far has been of any help.
Even before his professional footballer career started, Rooney was already known as a fantastic prospect, especially after his amazing 2002 Under-17 Euro Cup performances; though England was eliminated by eventual champions Switzerland in the semifinals of the competition, Rooney scores five goals (only Spain’s Jonathan Soriano surpassed him, grabbing seven) and even wins the Best Player award. Destined to greatness, England calls him up for some senior team action in 2003 and Rooney becomes the youngest player ever to represent the nation at the highest footballing level; mere months later and he would also become the youngest ever to score a goal for England. In 2004 he was an important – vital – part of England’s Euro 2004 campaign. Rooney grabs a goal to become the youngest player to score on an European Championship – Switzerland’s Vonlanthen (another retro-PES classic) would snatch that record just four days later…); despite losing in the quarterfinals against home team Portugal, Rooney finishes the competition as one of its top scorers with four goals, only surpassed by Czech Republic’s Milan Baros (dare I say, yet another retro-PES legend).
Two years later and Rooney once more sees Portugal stealing England’s thunder, eliminating them again on the quarterfinals and, just like in 2004, on the penalty kick shootout. Rooney is sent off on that game, having played a total of four matches on the 2006 World Cup. However, later on, just like his national team itself, Rooney’s international performances are disappointing: he participates on two more World Cup editions in 2010 and 2014, plus the Euro 2012 and 2016, but both him and England fail to impress in any way. Rooney eventually retires from international action in 2017, though he plays his last match for the national team in 2018, a friendly match to promote his newly-formed foundation; from 2003 onwards Rooney plays a total of 120 matches and scores 58 goals, ensuring he becomes England’s top scorer of all-time and the second most capped player in the history of the team, only behind Peter Shilton. Rooney will forever be regarded as a legend of the sport, even if many thought he would go on to have an even bigger impact.
Ehui – 18 – West London White
The same happened on the previous episode of this Wonderkids series: any player looks complete and uter trash compared to this potent inaugural wonderkid. Yet, once more, snatching him away from Man Red should be a hell of a task, so you might want to settle for a more realistic prospect. West London White’s Ehui is nevertheless a rather interesting young footballer, one who is especially fast (82 Top Speed and 81 Acceleration), a decent dribbler (76 Dribble Accuracy, 80 Dribble Speed and 84 Agility) and a shooter who isn’t that impressive early on (70 Shot Accuracy and 71 Shot Technique) but given his young age he has got what it takes to become an accurate finisher over time. His 80 Technique and a “Scoring” special skill help cement the idea that this kid might turn into something really special, though he still needs a lot of work.
I wish I had a lot to say about Ehui. The fact is, there isn’t really much information available about this PES5 wonderkid – and the little info out is not just scarce, but often contradicting. With the help of PES5, we can ensure Ehui was a Fulham footballer at least up until the 2005/06 season; yet after failing to make it on the first team, playing absolutely no matches, he is loaned out in February 2006 to League One’s Scunthorpe United. Such a massive footballing downgrade was surprisingly not effective in providing our wonderkid with some much needed playing time and experience, as Ehui plays a total of 40 minutes in three games before the season ends, always as a late sub-in. Fulham reintegrates him on the club’s reserve squad – though, as far as we know, he doesn’t get any minutes there either…- but after that 2006/07 season, and God knows what he had been doing up until that point in time, Fulham finally loans him out again, this time to Carshalton Athletic; our wonderkid was now deep, deep plunging into the depths of English football, wearing the shirt of a team playing in the 7th tier. That particular adventure might have been short-lived, but exhilarating: Ehui apparently plays two matches and scores three goals.
Such a performance convinced fellow Isthmian League Premier Division side Harrow Borough to sign him; footballing historians aren’t sure whether that produced any sporting action for our PES5 prospect. He might have gotten minutes there, who knows. Somehow, he attracts foreign clubs’ attention and as a consequence he is able to join Cyprus’ Second Division side Ermis Aradippou FC. Did Ehui actually grab minutes there? It is another mystery. The fact is, his club ends up winning the 2nd Division trophy and consequently, promotion to the first tier. Whether it was Ehui’s actual footballing influence or merely his retro-PES energy doing the trick, we will never know. Anyhow, Ehui’s job was done; he leaves Cyprus for a a Belgium’s fifth-tier side, RRFC Montegnée. Again, whether one dismisses it as a mere coincidence or not, his club grabs promotion to a higher footballing tier as Montegnée reaches the fourth division in 2010 – even if just one year later they would be back on the fifth tier.
Now, once more, my sources differ. Wikipedia claims Ehui spends five years at Montegnée; others claim he wore that team’s shirt for just a couple of seasons. If the former’s data is accurate, one that states that Ehui grabbed an (impressive) 41 games and 30 goals scored, then I would say that record seems to reflect an actual couple-of-seasons stint than a five-year stay. Should I trust the latter sources, Ehui joined Belgium’s fourth division side Sprimont Comblain in 2011 after those two seasons at Montegnée. His team would eventually finish mid-table on that 2011/12 campaign; as for our wonderkid, I would like to believe he got minutes there. Then, supposedly he managed to get a substantial footballing upgrade by joining Belgium’s third division side RCS Verviétois. This adventure, just like the previous one, lasts just one season and, still according to non-Wikipedia sources, Ehui is out of official footballing action for one season until he is given another opportunity back home at England: Northwood FC signs him; our wonderkid is back on the deeper regions of England’s seemingly never-ending footballing structure. Fortunately for him, it seems his performances are stunning – 25 games and thirteen goals scored – which convinces Conference South’s Hayes & Yeading United to acquire his talents for some fifth-tier English football action. Not exactly a big break, but his big break anyway.
Enjoying lots of minutes during that season – especially because of his status as a “dual-registration” footballer (meaning he can play for two different teams in the same season, providing they’re not on the same league) – his debut season at the Conference South was bittersweet; on one hand, he does play 30 matches and score nine goals, yet his team is relegated after finishing 21th in the league. Even before the year of 2016 ended, however, he was part of both Hendon and Flackwell Heath’s sides; apparently on the former he played one match and scored one goal, while he scores a hat-trick on one match played with Heath’s shirt. According to his Wikipedia page, Ehui is back at Northwood for the 2016/17 campaign, playing a total of nine games; then he joins Chalfont St. Peter in 2017, and hasn’t left the club since…? Hmmm, this looks fishy. On the other hand, another source states he actually kept playing for Hayes and Yeading United after that wonderful debut season of his – and despite the fact that the club got relegated from the Conference South -, which makes sense; in 2018 he leaves for Hanwell Town and one season later Ehui is…back at Northwood FC, where he would spend just one campaign before leaving, supposedly being currently a free agent at the age of 33. Ehui’s career is wholly mysterious. If this serves as any consolation, here is – possibly…? – his Instagram page. You can let him know how much of a retro-PES hero he is, or ask him what truly happened to his footballing career.
Hunt – 19 – Weser
A much safer wonderkid choice is Weser’s Hunt: theoretically not a SS but an AMF, though he is registered as being able to play on that attacking position too. I have never once played him anywhere but as a SS, hence him featuring on this list. Why? For me, a 19-year-old with a superb 78 Attack stat has to play upfront – also, his horrible 32 Defense is typically that of a striker. The thing is, Hunt is already a complete product (though strangely his dribbling is still very poor); his short passing (82 Short Pass Accuracy, plus a Passing special skill) is tremendous, his Technique is impressive (83) and he is reasonably energetic, fast and a decent shooter. Wherever you play him, you shall get one of the most exciting young attackers in this game – but buyer beware, he is also known to have an early peak; helping Hunt reach Master League stardom will require the intelligent influence of a skilled manager.
Hunt was clearly considered another exciting German footballing product as soon as he clinches an impressive 17 goals in 20 matches for Werder Bremen’s Under-20 team, back in 2004. He then makes his debut for the first team in September, now on the 2004/05 campaign, but ends up spending all of his footballing time and energy with the reserve squad, eventually being called up for the first team in February on a league match against Borussia Monchengladbach…Hunt gets minutes and grabs even his first-ever goal as a professional player, which allowed him to set the record for the youngest player to score a goal with Werder Bremen’s shirt on, at the mere age of 18. He goes on to grab a total of 13 appearances on that campaign, but Werder Bremen can’t repeat their incredible Bundesliga conquest of the previous season, still finishing on a respectable 3rd place anyway. Our wonderkid remains as a Werder Bremen footballer for the 2005/06 campaign, hence his presence on Weser’s roster in PES5; his playing time sees no significant change, though he played more matches (17), almost always as a late sub-in – interestingly, he participated in many Champions League games. If it weren’t for the serious injury that sidelined him during the first half of the year of 2006, Hunt would have probably established himself on this club as a vital player of their rotation. Anyway, Werder Bremen nearly misses out on another Bundesliga win, grabbing the 2nd place; Hunt’s quest for a league title would continue.
Now back on his feet after the injury, Hunt steals the show on the 2006/07 campaign, grabbing a total of 41 appearances and nine goals, his team reaching the semifinals of the UEFA Cup. Hunt had made it. His team conquers the German League Cup, the first of his timid collection of titles; Hunt himself clinches a role on Werder Bremen’s first team he wouldn’t let go of until he finally left the club in…2014. In a total of ten seasons there, he grabs 285 appearances and 51 goals; ultimately aggrandizing his trophy case with the German SuperCup and the DFB Pokal, both conquered in 2009. That was a fantastic year for both Hunt and his team, really. Werder Bremen reaches the UEFA Cup final, but Shakhtar Donetsk ultimately conquers the trophy on extra-time. Regretfully, Hunt’s maturation as a footballer coincided with Werder Bremen’s fall from grace in the beginning of the 2010s decade, rapidly transitioning from a club that disputed the Bundesliga to a mid-table side – at best. This is not an exaggeration. Werder Bremen finishes the 2009/10 campaign on the 3rd place and on the next…they grab a 13th place finish! On Hunt’s last season there, the club finishes 12th.
Now internationally famous for being the guy who is awarded a penalty but convinces the referee to overturn that decision because he had felt no contact, Honest Hunt leaves Werder Bremen and signs for Wolfsburg; and what a great decision that was. Hunt grabs 22 appearances on a fantastic 2014/15 campaign; Wolfsburg conquers the DFB Pokal – Hunt’s last silverware -, finishes 2nd in the Bundesliga and reaches the Europa League quarterfinals. His stay there wouldn’t last very long anyway as just one season later, Hamburg acquires him. Once more, Hunt is able to fit in perfectly; 133 games played and six seasons later our wonderkid is still part of that team. The only issue is, this time, Hunt’s timing was far from brilliant. He joins Hamburg as the team is decaying; if on his debut season there Hamburg finishes 10th in the Bundesliga, on the next campaign they finish 14th, and in 2018, following a 17th place finish, the team is relegated to the 2nd division…and haven’t managed to grab promotion ever since. Currently, Hunt’s eight matches played on the 2020/21 season have helped Hamburg stay on top of the league, as they are first on the 2. Bundesliga. 34-year-old Hunt’s footballing story is far from over. Wonderkid material? Definitely not; though ultimately, he should be proud of having been relevant in top-tier German football for more than a decade.
Mitea – 20 – Ajax
Supposedly an outsider on this Wonderkid list, not because of his quality and precocious footballing skills but because of the fact that he is strangely missing from that awesome Neoseeker PES5 Wonderkids Guide, even if Mitea for some reason couldn’t improve his attributes at all during a ML save, he would nevertheless still have to be considered one of the most interesting offensive talents in this game. His dribbling alone explains why. Mitea is already one of the most skilled players in this game, with a potent 91 Dribble Accuracy and 88 Dribble Speed (plus a Dribbling special skill) combined with 94 Agility; he is also very fast (92 Top Speed and 88 Acceleration) and though his Technique has not reached those world-class levels yet (85), considering also his attacking IQ is still below average (73), Mitea’s all-around skillset (including an impressive 75 Heading and 76 Jump for a small and fragile – 168cm, 61kg – footballer) predicts a phenomenal player able to rise to international stardom.
Mitea is surely one of the most credible candidates for the title of the most profoundly disappointing prospects in the history of Pro Evolution, especially since player development was introduced on the game’s Master League. Mitea is a classic of the PS2 PES era, already making waves since PES4. But chances are, either you have never heard of him over the last fifteen years since PES5’s release, or you do recognize the footballer- either because of his virtual or his real self…or both – yet you wonder what might have happened to him. Brace yourselves then, for this shall be a short but wild ride.
Maybe Mitea’s footballing career would have turned out differently had he signed for Barcelona back in 2002 at the mere age of 17, when he was offered a one-week trial with the Culés. Having impressed them, some sources state Mitea himself refused to sign the contract Barça had decided to offer him – even if the club ensured him and his family would be completely taken care of in Cataluña -; others claim Mitea’s football agent was a hindrance to the process and therefore the deal never materialized. Anyhow, the truth is, Mitea did not join the Culés; this young Rapid Bucharest footballer instead chose to sign for Bucharest rivals Dinamo Bucharest in 2002; that club would provide him his debut as a professional of the sport. However, Mitea was such a phenomenal talent that he couldn’t dispute more than a mere nine matches there – though he still participates on Dinamo’s successful Romanian Cup run, conquering the first of his collection of three titles amassed during his career -, for another world-class football club – coincidentally, another team known to be the ideal home for young prospects – calls Mitea for a trial. This time, Mitea can’t say no: he joins Ajax, the opportunity of his lifetime. Now, could he possibly make a name for himself amongst the (usual) plethora of very talented youths at Ajax?
Why, yes, of course. Mitea immediately clinches a spot on the first team, alongside other attackers such as Ibrahimovic, Litmanen and De Ridder – another classic PES5 prospect we already covered in this series – ; plus a few other notable youngsters such as Sneijder, Van der Vaart or Heitinga. Mitea debuts for his new team in September 2003 on a league match against RKC Waalwijk, coming off the bench to enjoy thirteen minutes of play on a 4-1 win. On his next match, three Eredivisie fixtures later, Mitea scores his first goal; on the very next match, he grabs another: our Romanian wonderkid establishes himself as the next big thing with a potent two goals scored in his first three games as an Ajax footballer – considering, even more impressively, he was just 18 years old at the time. Soon, he would already be playing Champions League football; just two months after his debut he was a regular presence on the team’s starting-11. Though that wouldn’t last very long, as Mitea solidifies his status as a valuable substitute coming off the bench (playing regularly nevertheless), this wonderkid goes on to grab a total of 27 appearances and seven goals in his debut season in the Netherlands; ultimately helping his team win the Eredivisie in 2004. Having also debuted for Romania’s national team, Mitea was living a fairy-tale.
Could it possibly get any better than this? Why, of course. On the subsequent campaign, Mitea plays a total of 29 matches, though scoring less goals (just three); he comes often as a sub-in. His team, on the other hand, fails to impress as Ajax can’t win any silverware. Anyway, tomorrow is another day – or next season is another season…? -; our wonderkid had already done the heavy lifting and grabbed himself a vital role on the ever-stacked Ajax side, playing almost sixty matches in two seasons. His career on the way up, nothing could stop Mitea now. Or so we thought. A serious injury sidelines him for the whole 2005/06 campaign, which is curiously exactly the one predicted by PES5. This Romanian talent ends up grabbing just one minute of play on the 32nd fixture of the 2005/06 Eredivisie, following a long and arduous recovery. He still had some gas in his footballing tank. On the subsequent campaign, Mitea finds a way to recover his role as a regular appearance coming off the bench, grabbing 16 appearances and six goals and ultimately doing his part to help Ajax win the KNVB Beker in 2007, Mitea’s most recent trophy conquered. That success was rather short-lived, however. Ajax almost completely renovates its roster’s collection of attackers; Mitea’s presence in it suddenly makes him look rather old at the mere age of 23, considering the 2007/08 campaign was going to be his fifth season as an Ajax footballer. With new, potent competition such as Rommedahl and Albert Luque, the club bringing in experienced players to try and conquer the Eredivisie title Ajax just couldn’t get their hands on since 2004, Mitea completely fails to establish himself in these new circumstances: he doesn’t even get a single minute of play during the whole campaign, both because of recurrent injuries and, perhaps mostly, because of the plethora of better options Ajax had at that point for his role.
Thus commences Mitea’s fall from grace, though one might argue that that really started with his horrible injury back in 2005, as traditionally it is very hard for footballers to fully recover following a torn MCL. He was arguably never the same after that. After an horrible 2007/08 campaign where he saw absolutely no footballing action, new Ajax manager Marco Van Basten does not want the Romanian wonderkid around and, though Mitea had a contract lasting until 2009, the club opts to rescind it. Where to now, Mitea? Back home he goes. Six years after leaving Dinamo Bucharest, he signs for the Romanian powerhouse in 2008. Hoping to re-energize his career, Mitea surely wasn’t expecting to play, according to Wikipedia, just twelve matches during that debut campaign on his return. Other sources claim he only played once…anyway, he surely did not impress, for just one year later he was leaving Dinamo. Mitea joins Greece’s Ionikos but this mid-to-low table Greek side was not going to offer him any playing time…at all. Another injury? I can’t tell. Mitea fails to establish himself on a team desperately trying to avoid relegation to Greece’s third tier. Yes, Mitea was now failing to make it on Greece’s second division. Naturally, he had to leave. Mitea is back at Romania but this time, as expected, no top Romanian side wants him – including Dinamo. He finds a job playing for Petrolul Ploiesti, a side that had just been promoted to the country’s first footballing tier. Yet at this point nothing is working for our wonderkid. He goes on to dispute just two matches, though he scores one goal. Before I checked, I just knew which team he had played and scored against. You know it too. During the 2011/12 season, Mitea plays six minutes against Rapid Bucharest and then plays fourteen minutes against…Dinamo Bucharest, of course, scoring also his only goal of the season against his former club. That would have been legendary stuff if his team weren’t losing 5-0 at home before his goal…Petrolul barely escapes relegation and our wonderkid leaves the club at the end of another very, very timid performance of his.
His – painful – downfall was almost over. Another nail in the coffin: Mitea spends almost one year without footballing action before Moldova’s Rapid Ghidighici, for some reason, offered him a job. Apparently he didn’t get a single minute there, so…you guessed it, he is back at Romania! Concordia Chiajna avoids relegation from the first tier during that 2013/14 campaign; yet once more, according to every source, Mitea plays no matches. His last footballing adventure was not exactly the farewell he expected; at the age of 29, after grabbing also a mere eight games wearing his nation’s shirt, Mitea retires. What could he possibly be doing now? Well, according to Romanian sources, Mitea’s fall from grace was also financial, as he is said to have had quickly spent all of his fortune “at the speed of light”. Fortunately, he found solace in real estate investing after finding out about the only thing he didn’t waste: a plot of land in which he was, as of August this year, building a block of apartments. I wish him all the best in this second life of his; for as Nancy Sinatra once put it, You Only Live Twice.
Vumomiteic – 19 – Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro’s National Team provides us an interesting brand of wonderkid, one that shouldn’t go by unnoticed for both good and bad reasons. One one hand, the skilled (82 Technique) 19-year-old is already a very competent dribbler (80 Dribble Accuracy and 82 Agility) and passer (76 Long Pass Accuracy), plus a free kick taker who is able to become one of the best in this game (80 Free Kick Accuracy and Swerve). However, considering first and foremost his terrible mental stats (61 Mentality and Teamwork), Vumomiteic – Vukcevic in real life – will just refuse defending altogether (25 Defense), not that he cares that much about whatever is happening on the pitch (65 Response); and even if he did care, he just physically couldn’t commit to relevant action during the whole match (70 Stamina). Frustrating but uniquely talented; Vukcevic is a tricky buy for your ML team; if you are not the patient, loving type of manager, Vumomiteic might provide you a dangerous rollercoaster of emotions. The bad boy of PES5…?
At the young age of 16, Vumomiteic was already playing for Partizan’s first team, of course under the (lesser) name of Vukcevic. After grabbing just one appearance during the 2002/03 campaign – with Partizan winning the league -, our wonderkid begins making a name for himself on the subsequent one, playing 14 matches, cementing his role as a first-teamer. His breakout season was the next; before the end of the 2004/05 campaign, Partizan once again conquering the league – the 18-year-old Vukcevic plays an amazing 40 games and scores eleven goals. No wonder why he was a PES5 wonderkid…certainly one of the most exciting prospects in Europe at this point, Partizan manages to hold on to this exquisite talent for the “PES5 season” of 2005/06; however, a taste of what would happen often during his footballing career, Vukcevic’s performances are inconsistent and he is accused of being too individualistic instead of a team player – showcasing how accurate his PES5 mental attributes were…still, he goes on to dispute a total of 21 matches, netting also four goals, before signing for Russia’s FC Saturn. Too unimportant a club for a PES5 wonderkid? They had the money at least. Saturn spends an impressive seven million euros on his acquisition; the pressure was now on Vukcevic to deliver.
Only Vukcevic’s poor professionalism prevents him from shining at Russia. Though he goes on to play 32 games on his debut season there, at some point halfway through that campaign he is relegated to the reserves, his manager losing his patience with our wonderkid. Vukcevic’s playing time was about to be severely culled and after just four matches played on the first half of Russia’s footballing season, Saturn didn’t mind losing money if that meant getting rid of this footballer: the club sells Vukcevic for just two million euros and to Portugal he goes, signing for Sporting. Though the Russian League was already halfway, as this PES5 talent joins the Leões in July, that means he was able to arrive before the Portuguese League started, which explains why he was able to grab a fantastic 47 appearances, plus 14 goals on that which was by far his most prolific season ever. He helps Sporting conquer both the Portuguese SuperCup and the Portuguese Cup, the last titles Vukcevic ever wins. Having definitely recovered from his disappointing stay in Russia, his future seemed bright. Premier League sides consider acquiring this wonderkid, yet Sporting, having a footballing pearl on their hands, opt not to sell. They should have. As always, Vukcevic finds a way to blow it; once more the relationship between him and his manager deteriorates and as undisciplined as ever, Vukcevic only plays 22 matches on the 2008/09 campaign, scoring six goals. Following another 27 appearances, his last season with Sporting was rather prolific, him grabbing 40 appearances and five goals; but Vukcevic, ever the inconsistent, individualistic and temperamental performer, had already exhausted both the club’s management as well as Sporting’s fans’ patience. In 2011 he leaves for Blackburn, earning an interesting Premier League adventure.
Probably his fate would have been massively distinct had he joined a Premier League side in 2008, after that wonderful debut season in Portugal. However, the Vukcevic of 2011 was not at all that footballer anymore. He can’t establish himself in England (grabbing just 10 appearances on the 2011/12 campaign); plus Blackburn is relegated from the first tier after finishing 19th. Their next campaign would be even more disappointing as the team barely escapes relegation from the Championship; Vukcevic playing seldomly. Just eleven matches played in half a season later, Blackburn terminates his contract, leaving him free to join Ukraine’s Karpaty on February 2013. Apparently, that wasn’t a wise decision at all. Just two months later he decides to rescind that contract, having played just two games. Back home he goes to Serbia, joining FK Vojvodina; and after thirteen games played in half a season, he is off again, this time to Greece as he joins Levadiakos FC. This mid-table Greek side provides the opportunity for him to dispute a mere five games before the end of the 2013/14 campaign; but on the next, Vukcevic shows what he is made of and grabs 29 appearances…his team, on the other hand, finishes 14th on Greece’s first tier, nearly missing out on relegation. Off he goes. He joins Cyprus’ ENP in 2015 and though he plays 16 matches during the 2015/16 season, ENP is relegated from the first tier. Desperate for some footballing solace, he embarks on another Portuguese adventure, joining GD Chaves on the following campaign. Twelve games and a mid-table finish later, he signs for Montenegro’s FK Buducnost, but apparently he doesn’t play any matches there. On March 2018 Vukcevic retires from professional football at the age of 32.
Vukcevic first impressed the footballing world when the 16-year-old scored a wonderful four goals in just two games at the 2002 Under-17 Euro Cup, playing for Yugoslavia. Two years later he is on Serbia and Montenegro’s roster as the team disputes the 2004 Under-21 Euro Cup; the (young) nation can only be stopped by Italy on the final – though a Vukcevic goal helped defeating the Italians on the first match of the group stage early on – as the likes of Barzagli, De Rossi, and Gilardino beat Vukcevic’s and Branislav Ivanovic’s side. Vukcevic’s rise continues as he is selected to represent his nation on the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, but after being pulverized by Carlos Tévez’s Argentina (0-6) and Tim Cahill’s Australia (1-5), that turned out to be a terrible campaign. Having then represented Serbia and Montenegro on the 2006 Under-21 Euro Cup, his team reaching the semifinals of the competition, at this point already capped for his nation’s senior team, Vukcevic then goes on to play a total of 48 games wearing that shirt. A wonderkid that promised to take over the world early on quickly faded into obscurity – a recurrent tale. Vukcevic, however, seemed to have enough talent to at least be able to grab an interesting – though far from world-class – career, but perhaps his temperament prevented him from achieving such heights.
Libero Magazine 