Chelsea Star Nemanja Matic Finally Winning Accolades in His Native Serbia

They say that no man is a prophet in his own land and Nemanja Matic had to learn that the hard way. Only now, after being widely recognized as one of the best defensive midfielders in the Premier League, is he starting to establish himself as a key player for the Serbia national team.

The hype surrounding Matic has been particularly intense in the past couple of weeks, with his great performances against Sporting Lisbon and Arsenal, both of which Chelsea won (1-0 and 2-0, respectively).

“Nemanja Matic’s craft and muscle helps Chelsea to humble Arsenal again,” wrote the Guardian’s Barney Ronay. “Matic is Jose Mourinho’s monster in midfield and could be crucial in the title race,” suggested Adam Bate at Sky Sports. In his analysis for WhoScored.com, Jonathan Wilson argued that “it’s not in one facet that Matic excels but in his range.”

The plaudits coming his way are, of course, very well-deserved, as Matic is the kind of complete modern midfielder that managers of today dream about. He can contribute just as much by doing the dirty work as he can by fulfilling creative tasks put upon him. He can tackle, win aerial duels and intercept passes, but he is also more than adept at dribbling, passing and shooting.

A “monster” in midfield, as Jose Mourinho described him in a post-match TV-interview after the away win against Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League.

The 26-year-old Serb feels comfortable with such nicknames. “I don’t mind when they call me a beast or a monster,” he recently told Blic’s D. Radovic (article in Serbian). “Last year I was The Spider. I accept anything that’s within football jargon.”

Darko Vojinovic/Associated Press

A few days after that interview, Nemanja Matic led Serbia into the start of their qualifying campaign for the 2016 Euros under the guidance of new manager, the renowned Dutch expert Dick Advocaat, who previously managed five other national teams (Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Belgium and Russia). Although the side could only manage a hard-fought draw in Yerevan against Armenia, Matic was still impressive, bossing the midfield in both directions and setting his team-mates up for good chances.

It’s a turn of events that surely brings great satisfaction to him, because Matic’s career hit more than a few bumps before it took him to where he is now.

As a kid, he was rejected by both Serbia’s giants, Red Star and Partizan Belgrade, who didn’t want him in their youth academies. He ended up playing for the lower-league side Kolubara Lazarevac, where he made his senior debut in 2005.

His next move also took him off the beaten path, as he went on a trial at MFK Kosice, a mediocre top-flight club in Slovakia, of all places. He signed for them in 2007 as a 19-year-old and soon began attracting the attention of clubs from other countries.

In January 2009, he unsuccessfully trialed at Middlesbrough, but that summer Chelsea bought him. In his first two years at Stamford Bridge, he only gathered three appearances as a sub, spending most of it on loan to Vitesse in the Dutch Eredivisie. In 2011, Matic was offloaded to Benfica, as part of the deal that brought David Luiz to Chelsea.

It was in Lisbon that Matic really blossomed under the guidance of charismatic coach Jorge Jesus, who has garnered quite a reputation for developing players. In the end, Chelsea re-signed him last winter for €25 million, 15 times more than they originally paid for him when he was brought from Slovakia.

Julian Finney/Getty Images

But it was worth it, as his performances for the Blues this season clearly prove.

Matic’s international career has been equally meandering. Although he was already fully capped for Serbia by December 2008, it took him almost five years to record an appearance for his country in a competitive game. Previously he had fallen out with manager Sinisa Mihajlovic, who ignored his talents and failed to use him even as a sub in five consecutive call-ups.

Then, as he returned into the team and finally made the starting lineup, he was sent off on his competitive debut in September 2013—which was a grudge match against Croatia, no less. It was only in the aftermath of Serbia’s failure to qualify for the World Cup that the contours of a new team started to emerge, with Matic at the heart of it.

The player never had it easy and he built a career on rejection, but that just might have made him stronger. Now he’s a star for both Chelsea and Serbia, proof of how hard work eventually pays off. And if you can say one thing about Matic, then it would be that he’s a hard worker.

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