For a period, immediately following his first team debut with Fiorentina, Nikola Milenkovic seemed destined for a big league. Because his performances seemed to portend him to become one of the best central defenders in Europe, with the 2018 World Cup with Serbia as a further showcase for a rich capital gain. He probably still had to prove something to be at the desired level, but at 23 he already had over one hundred league appearances among professionals, in Serie A, between Partizan and the Italian championship.
Instead Milenkovic never took that step to land in a higher reality. It is not known why, given that over the years he has scored some goals and played both as a full-back – stuck in a four-man defense – and as a centre-back, perhaps paying for a Fiorentina that has never managed to better support defenders compared to to attackers like Vlahovic, Chiesa or finally Nico Gonzalez.
For some time the Serbian defender danced on the brink of his contract expiring, then finding a top deal (over 3 million per season) which was perhaps considered excessive. So the Viola, when the offer from Nottingham Forest arrived, didn’t think twice. Maybe a shame. Nikola Milenkovic turns 27 today.