In what turned out to be a pretty successful end to a transfer window many still feared might see another player exodus, Saints sealed the loan deal for Serbian international Filip Đuričić on loan from Benfica as well as the highly popular move of making Ryan Bertrand’s move from Chelsea permanent.
We all know plenty about Bertrand after his brilliant start to life as a Saint, but what of Djuricic (The English way of typing it). I’ll admit I know little about the player, so as is now tradition for the site I spoke to an expert. Milos, who runs the @SerbianFooty twitter account kindly stepped in to fill the void!
M ‘I think it’s a good move, Koeman remembers him from the Dutch league and thinks highly of him, otherwise he wouldn’t have brought him in. He could add another attacking spark in midfield and help Saints earn a Champions League spot.’
How do I pronounce his surname?
M ‘It’s pronounced kinda like Jew-rich-ich. The DJ makes a J sound in Serbian.’
M ‘His best position is definitely in attacking midfield just behind the strikers. He can also play on the left wing.’
M ‘His main strengths are his speed, technical ability and dribbling. As for weaknesses he definitely needs to get stronger, he is often overpowered by stronger defenders. He also needs to be more consistent and work on his decision masking, he tends to make some risky passes that get his team in trouble.’
M ‘Yes he has struggled since leaving the Dutch league, His confidence is low right now but Koeman seems to really believe in him so hopefully that will motivate him and help him return to his old form. I have some doubts about him in the PL but i also think that this could be the right situation for him since he has Koeman and his good friend Dusan Tadic to help him.’
M ‘I think overall he’s been great considering this is his first season in a big league. Of course he can improve his finishing as well as his crossing at times but that should come with more experience. Hopefully he stays with Saints for a few more years.’
There we have it! Thanks again to Milos for providing such good answers, let’s hope we can see a winning debut at QPR!
