Vanja Milinković-Savić


Vanja Milinković-Savić is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Belgian club Standard Liège, on loan from Torino and the Serbia under-21 football team.
He was born in Ourense, Spain. After failing to be awarded a UK work permit with English club Manchester United, he was released by the club in November 2015 and signed a contract with Lechia Gdańsk. In 2017 he was signed by Torino.

Club career

On 2 April 2014, Milinković-Savić signed his first professional contract with Vojvodina, penning a three-year deal. On 17 May 2014, it was announced by Manchester United that the club reached agreement with Vojvodina for the transfer of Milinković-Savić. Both clubs agreed that the player would stay with Vojvodina for one more season. The deal was completed on 5 August 2014, for a transfer fee of €1.75 million.
Milinković-Savić made his competitive debut for Vojvodina on 10 August 2014, keeping a clean sheet in a 3–0 home league victory over OFK Beograd. He played the full 90 minutes in all 15 league games in the first part of the 2014–15 season. After the winter break, Milinković-Savić lost his place as first-choice goalkeeper to experienced Srđan Žakula, making only two more league appearances.
After failing to earn a work permit to play in England, Milinković-Savić was released by Manchester United in November 2015 and he signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with Polish club Lechia Gdańsk on 26 November; the contract commenced on 1 January 2016.
On 30 January 2017, Italian club Torino announced they had purchased him and he would join the club on 1 July. He was the first-choice goalkeeper for the national cup, while being the second choice, behind Salvatore Sirigu, for the Serie A. During the Coppa Italia match against Carpi, he hit the crossbar with a free-kick in injury time.
On 6 July 2018, Milinković-Savić signed with S.P.A.L. on loan from Torino until 30 June 2019.
On 31 January 2019, Milinkovic-savic joined to Serie B side Ascoli on loan until 30 June 2019.
On 29 June 2019, he joined to Belgian club Standard Liège on loan with an option to buy.

International career

Milinković-Savić was selected to represent Serbia at the 2014 UEFA Under-19 Championship. He served as a backup to Predrag Rajković, failing to make an appearance at the tournament, as the team was eliminated by Portugal on penalties in the semi-finals of the competition.
Milinković-Savić again served as a backup to Rajković at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup, where the Serbian team won the gold medal.

Career statistics

Honours

;Serbia U20
Milinković-Savić was born in Ourense, Spain, to parents Nikola Milinković, who was playing professional football for CD Ourense, and Milana Savić, a professional basketball player. He is the younger brother of midfielder Sergej Milinković-Savić.