Filip Stevanovic: Things to know about the Serbian wonderboy linked with Manchester United

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Bengaluru, Aug 17: Manchester United have been re-investing in the youth structure massively for the last couple of years and it has been followed this Summer also with the impressive signings in U-19 side with the likes of Sunderland's Joe Hugill, Barcelona's Marc Jurado, Norway's Isak Hansen-Aaroen etc.

Now as per latest report, the Red Devils also have found a breakthrough in landing one of Serbia's hottest prospect, 17-year-old Filip Stevanovic from Partizan Belgrade for a fee around £10.8million.

The young winger, however, will not join the side this Summer and instead will spend one more season with his native side on loan.

United have traded with Partizan previously, with a double deal for Zoran Tosic and Adem Ljajic, only one of which made it to Old Trafford.

The Serbian starlet is surely something of an unknown player for most, hence here are a couple of things you need to know about the player:

Career so far

Stevanovic joined Partizan Belgrade at the age of 9 and broke into the first team at the age of 16 years, in December 2018, becoming the third-youngest debutant in the club’s history. But his breakthrough season was the last term where he was regularly handed a first-team role. Despite his tender age, he made 35 appearances in all competitions last season provided nine goals and three assists.

Out of those, two came against United in the Europa League, with the winger coming on as a substitute in both clashes. He is yet to receive his Senior Callup to the National side but he has made three appearances for Serbia’s Under-19s and recently earned his first call-up to the Under-21 squad.

Playing Style

The youngster is a skilful forward who has mostly operated as a left-winger last season although he is also capable of playing on the right or through the middle. The right-footed winger is extremely agile, quick and coordinates himself quite nicely while combining all of this with a lot of tricks and drilling. His playing style has been compared with Cristiano Ronaldo and he apparently idolises Ronaldinho.

Clubs interested

Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool were among the many clubs minutely tracking the progress of Stevanovic. While these three clubs were not alone in their pursuit of Stevanovic. Bundesliga trio Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig had all shown a fleeting interest, while Juventus, Inter, Atalanta, Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Monaco and Benfica also had previously contacted Partizan about a possible deal. But United apparently now have concluded a deal.