Nastasić

[BufordUSABlue]

Di Marzio: Nastasic has said goodbye to his team-mates and is ready to fly to England. But Savic has still yet to agree terms with Fiorentina...

Fiorentina have obviously just watched a clip of said Savic in recent action it seems :-)

 

[Blue Haze]

Good move for us. Kolo and Nastasic are excellent backup options, and Nastasic is familiar with 3 at the back. Low wages too.

Very pleased with this considering the alternative of paying 27m for Agger.

 

[Forzacitizens]

Here's a great article about him for anyone interested.

<a class="postlink" href="http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/272?cc=5739" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/nam ... 72?cc=5739</a>

 

[Andouble]

Savic probably won't go down without a fight. Could get tricky. I assume even though he isn't on highest wages here he'd have to take minimum 25% pay cut to play there.

 

[samharris]

Here's a great article about him for anyone interested.

<a class="postlink" href="http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/272?cc=5739" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/nam ... 72?cc=5739</a>

Thanks,good read.

 

[FantasyIreland]

Here's a great article about him for anyone interested.

<a class="postlink" href="http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/272?cc=5739" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/nam ... 72?cc=5739</a>

Posted by James Horncastle


"I wish..." Matija Nastasic said. The reporter from Il Corriere dello Sport had just revealed how he'd been told that the 19-year-old Fiorentina center back was 'the next Nemanja Vidic."

"My career has only just begun," Nastasic continued. "I still have a long way to go. I hope that within a few years' time I will be able to answer 'yes,' that I am his heir."

Manchester City supporters will no doubt hold the same aspiration once Nastasic completes his expected move to the Etihad in exchange for a reported fee of 12 million pounds (plus Stefan Savic) on Wednesday. If he realizes his considerable potential, City would have one less thing to envy rivals Manchester United for in the future.

Nastasic was a revelation in Serie A last season. City's recruitment department was no doubt already aware of that fact but if they weren't, it wouldn't be of any surprise at all were it to emerge that manager Roberto Mancini had been recommended him by his trusted former teammate and assistant Sinisa Mihajlovic.

Signed from Partizan Belgrade like fellow Fio star Stevan Jovetic, Mihajlovic helped launch Nastasic at Fiorentina. He already considered the youngster "a very strong player" and liked his attitude so much so that even though his job was in jeopardy at the time, he promised him experience and used him as a second half substitute on three occasions in the early part of the campaign.

"If I manage to stay, I will make him play," Mihajlovic said. Those were famous last words as he was sacked the next day following a 1-0 defeat to Chievo. But that didn't mean the end of Nastasic's progress. Far from it. With fellow center back Cesare Natali suspended and Per Kroldrup injured, Fiorentina was short at the back for its next match, the visit of champions AC Milan.

New coach Delio Rossi threw Nastasic in at the deep end. His job on his first start for Fiorentina was as daunting as they come, charged with marking Serie A's best player at the time, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Unfazed, Nastasic handled his illustrious opponent much to the wonder of everyone watching, displaying a maturity beyond his years. Fiorentina kept a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw.

"A little star is born," wrote La Gazzetta dello Sport. In the same report the pink paper noted that Fiorentina's current head of scouting Eduardo Macia had first tried to sign Nastasic four years earlier at Liverpool. His intuition proved right. Nastasic was to go on and quickly establish himself in a league with a tradition for producing top defenders.

From the Milan game onwards, he was among the first names on the team sheet at Fiorentina, making 21 starting appearances. Nastasic represented one of the few positives in what was a negative season, as the club finished 13th in Serie A.

While everyone else appeared to lose their heads -- including coach Rossi, who was fired in May with Fiorentina fighting to remain Serie A after he appeared to strike his own player Adem Ljajic following a sarcastic response to being substituted against Novara -- Nastasic managed to keep his wits about him and showed admirable composure. "I never let anxiety get to me," he told Il Corriere dello Sport. "I am a calm footballer. I try not to lose patience. Those are fundamental qualities in my position."

It's his unflappable nature, in addition to his strength in the tackle and in the air, that defines Nastasic. He doesn't panic. The step-up to full international level after representing Serbia’s Under-17, Under-19 and Under-21s did not seem to unnerve him. On his debut in a friendly with Cyprus in the spring, Nastasic made a crucial goal-line clearance, settled things down and ensured the team kept a clean-sheet in a 0-0 draw. Now that Mihajlovic has got the senior job, the expectation is he will become a regular for the team during qualifying for the 2014 World Cup providing, of course, he is playing consistently at club level.

So where might Nastasic fit in at City? Would he be cover for Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott or does he offer Mancini something more than a back-up? One of the directions City has indicated it's headed in is the use of a back-three.

"To add that other string to the bow," Mancini's assistant David Platt explained, "we had to have a good look at it from more of an offensive point of view, where we would have the wide center halves coming out and playing with the ball rather than staying narrow, and we are getting the wing-backs high."

Nastasic slots into that way of thinking. He played on the left-hand side of a three-man defense last season with Fiorentina and started the new campaign in that same position in a 2-1 win at home to Udinese last weekend. Perhaps this role may await him at City too. At the very least, he would give Mancini the option to continue his experiments with a 3-5-2 either as a first choice system or as an alternative during their title defense.

Whether he’s 'the next Vidic' or not, only time will tell, but from what Nastasic has shown so far, City is soon to get its hands on a player of real promise

 

[LoveCity]

Nastasic could already be on a plane to Manchester as he's left the Fiorentina training camp. Really hope Savic doesn't mess up this deal or we'll be paying a huge cash sum for such a young player.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/?action=read&id=380464" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/?action=read&id=380464</a>

 

[Ragnarok]

Kun Aguero has taken the bet. Its still open to anyone else interested.

Well?

What would be the point ?

If he's dogshit there, the same people who can't see that he's dogshit here would just say he's brilliant.

Luckily Mancini gets to decide & it seems he's doing exactly what many people predicted he would do.

My definition of World Class is that Savic will be a regular in one of the top 5 teams in the world by 2015, and that is my bet. :)

 

[Ovo]

I think this will be done by tomorrow afternoon.

 

[MCC]

who is this nastasis player

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.worldfootball.net/entry/_98642_matija-nastasic/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.worldfootball.net/entry/_986 ... -nastasic/</a>

What a mean looking ugly twat! Just how I like my CB`s!