Information on Coventry City transfer link with ‘huge potential’ and ‘perfect’ crossing.

Coventry City have this week been heavily linked with talented young midfielder Marko Stamenic – a New Zealand international who is said to be joining the Sky Blues from Red Star Belgrade.

According to Serbian sports publication Sportal.rs, the Sky Blues paid £4.26 million for the defensive midfielder. The online publication announced its story this week as a “transfer bombshell”, saying it was a “spectacular” deal by the Belgrade club, otherwise known as FK Crvena Zvezda, claiming they sold the holding midfielder for “5 million Of euro”. only a year after joining the free club in Copenhagen.

Sources in New Zealand have confirmed there is interest from the Championship club, while CoventryLive understands talk of a done deal is premature. However, the 22-year-old was in London this week, further adding to speculation that he could be heading to CBS Arena.

READ MORE: Coventry transfer development as reported target flies to UK

READ MORE: City ‘very interested’ in move as transfer gossip grows

So what do we know about the lad? Here, Kiwi Sam Smith, researcher for gaming platforms EASPORTS FC and Football Manager, offers an in-depth look at the player whose career he has followed closely since he was a teenager.

Outstanding qualities

“He is very comfortable and composed on the ball, has a bit of flair and has brilliant instincts for aggression and interception. He is tall and physical with fantastic passing range and vision. He also has good touch and dribbling ability.”

The best position

“He’s played a different position every season of his career. You can keep him at center back, defensive midfield, central midfield or he can play as an attacking midfielder without too much trouble. But because of that, I and many Crvena Zvezda fans feel like we don’t know his best position yet.

“I think there is a great box-to-box player in him, but he has often been deployed very deep, either as a lone defensive midfielder or part of a partnership. He had an absolutely incredible pre-season and the first few months of this season when he looked like one of the best defensive midfield prospects in his age range on the planet, but he slowed down as the season wore on and his role diminished with more experienced midfielders playing alongside him. .”

Room for improvement/thing to work on

“He is yellow card prone and although he can carry the ball forward with confidence, he falters a bit when forced to make a decision in the final third and often drops the final ball. He’s not a scoring threat at all right now.

“I think it’s an important aspect of his game that his long passes are significantly better than his short ones, which is frankly poor for a central midfielder. He’s smooth on the ball with space, but never looks completely comfortable when he doesn’t have much time to weigh his next move. Give him a few seconds, though, and he’ll launch an inch-perfect bullet!”

Character

“Stamenic is a guy I’ve been watching since I was 15 or so and he’s a guy whose future I’m very invested in because of that and I’ve watched him a lot! I tried to watch as many live games as possible during his club career (he caught 20 this season) and of course I watched all his international games.

“He’s a nice guy, well-bred. He is very soft-spoken and eloquent, and there are plenty of interviews he’s done in English on Red Star Belgrade’s YouTube channel to get a sense of his character. On the field, however, he is VERY emotional and shows how much he cares!”

International career in New Zealand

“He’s not in the OFC Nations Cup this summer, but neither are other first XI players like Wood, Garbett, Boxall, McCowatt, Bell and Singh, so it’s not something I’d read anything into. I’ve heard it’s nothing more than a well-deserved post-season rest given the relative ease of the competition, and I think any interest from Coventry is circumstantial and not the reason he’s not involved.”

Potential

“Overall he has absolutely huge potential, possibly the best prospect we’ve ever seen come out of New Zealand!”

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