Aston Villa youngster Kosta Nedeljkovic has earned himself praise after impressing for Serbia during this international break.
‘Observer’ Marco Palma is full of praise for the Aston Villa man today to Tuttomercatoweb after watching him in Serbia’s clashes with Spain and Denmark.
Nedeljkovic joined Villa in a €7.6m deal from Red Star in January but was left at the Serbian club until this summer.
He moved to Aston Villa permanently and has been impressing ever since, so much so that Unai Emery has elected to keep him as part of his squad for this campaign.
An injury to Matty Cash has already given him his chance to impress and he’s done just that, managing eight minutes against West Ham, 74 against Arsenal and another 11 in the win over Leicester.
That saw him called up by Serbia, who showed no hesitation in throwing him into the fire against new European champions Spain earlier this month.
He played 90 minutes in that game and helped his side to a point in the 0-0 draw before managing another 64 minutes in the 2-0 defeat to Denmark three days later.
Palma was one of those watching closely and when asked by TMW to name five youngsters who have impressed in this break, the Aston Villa man was the first on the list.
“Let’s start with Kosta Nedeljkovic, Serbian right back, born in 2005, 184 cm, right foot, owned by Aston Villa,” he said.
“After great things with Red Star, in January 2024 he moved to the English club who, after leaving him on loan in his homeland for 6 months, last summer added him to the first team and he immediately won over Emery who fielded him as a starter against Arsenal.
“The linchpin of the Serbian Under 21s, he has just been called up for the first time to the senior national team and started both matches proving to be one of the best. Running, application, very disciplined and very mature despite his young age.”
Earlier today we covered a report from Belgium which stated that after Nedeljkovic made his international debut, Aston Villa are to pay a further €1.5m for his signing thanks a clause agreed at the time of the move.
