If a name on Serbia’s team sheet during Thursday’s 2-0 defeat Brazil rang a bell or two in the minds of Celtic supporters, well there’s a pretty good reason for that.
During the summer of 2019, when Neil Lennon was getting himself comfortable back at Parkhead for a second stint in charge of the Glasgow giants, the then-Hoops boss made the trip down to Connah’s Quay in Wales to cast his beady eyes over an 18-year-old centre-half (Scottish Sun).
Strahinja Pavlovic started that night; a Partizan Belgrade team featuring one-time Rangers loanee Umar Sadiq and former Manchester United youngster Zoran Tosic triumphing 1-0 in Flintshire. Three-and-a-half years later, that very same player was going head-to-head with Neymar, Raphinha and Richarlison on the biggest stage of all.
Not only that. For over an hour, he kept them quiet too, albeit with a little help from his friends.
Former Celtic target Strahinja Pavlovic shines as Serbia suffer World Cup defeat to Brazil
“I was flattered when I heard about Celtic watching me,” the then-teenage Pavlovic said at the time (Daily Record). “My favourite clubs in Europe are Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United. My ambition is to play for one of those teams one day.”
With an eye-catching performance against pre-tournament favourites Brazil, Serbia standing tall despite an eventual 2-0 defeat, Pavlovic may have taken one giant step closer to achieving his dream of a big-money move to one of Europe’s biggest clubs.
Pavlovic would never arrive at Celtic in the end. He joined Monaco some six months after Lennon’s personal scouting mission on Welsh soil. But, after struggling to settle in the Principality, Pavlovic is on the up again. The youngster joined Red Bull Salzburg – one of Europe’s most renowned talentspotters and the club who gave us Erling Haaland, Sadio Mane and Brenden Aaronson – for a cool £7 million last summer, and already looks more like the player who shone so brightly at Partizan Belgrade.
The now-21-year-old Pavlovic is reportedly on Roma’s radar (Gazzetta dello Sport). One suspects that, if Jose Mourinho was tuning in on Thursday night, he’d have been impressed with the way Pavlovic went about his business against arguably the most feared frontline at the Qatar World Cup, even if there are still a couple of rough edges which will take some ironing out..
He’s not the finished article. By any means. But, from Connah’s Quay to Qatar, Pavlovic has come an awfully long way in a short space of time.
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