Serbian midfielder Luka Ilic has admitted former club Red Star ‘couldn’t refuse’ Manchester City’s offer for him earlier in his career.
The midfielder has been speaking to Ligue 2’s official website about his career to date, which has proven to be more complicated than he would have liked.
He started with Red Star as a youngster in his homeland and worked his way up the youth ranks at the club into the first team set up before Manchester City moved to snap him up in July 2017 as part of their continuous effort to hoover up talent around the world.
He’s since spent the last few years out on loan, rejoining Red Star before going to NAC Breda and then FC Twente.
His career has really struggled to get going, with his most appearances for any club to date the 45 he managed while on loan at NAC Breda.
It’s all been very stop start since he ended up in the Manchester City system, with most viewing that as a poor choice for him to have made as a youngster.
He doesn’t look at it that way, though, and instead believes he simply couldn’t have turned down the offer that City made for him.
“It happened very quickly. I was of course happy and excited to sign for such a big club with my brother at such a young age,” he said.
“Manchester City spotted us when we were playing with the Serbian youth teams. Red Star was going through a complicated period and the leaders couldn’t refuse the offer made to them.
“But during the season following our departure, Red Star had a good run in the Europa League so I’m happy to have been able to contribute in my own way to the club doing something good.
“I was mainly with the U21s or the U19s [at Manchester City]. When I was transferred there, I immediately came back to Belgrade on loan. And then I was loaned out again, this time to the Netherlands, so I never spent very long periods with Manchester City.
“This was especially during periods of recovery. Unfortunately, most of the time I spent in Manchester was because I was injured and came to get fit.”
