{"id":4050,"date":"2026-04-09T12:40:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T12:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/?p=4050"},"modified":"2026-04-09T12:40:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T12:40:54","slug":"arsenal-ready-to-pay-e7m-for-serbias-vasilije-novicic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/?p=4050","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal ready to pay \u20ac7m for Serbia&#8217;s Vasilije Novi\u010di\u0107"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"content-main\">\n<p><strong>Arsenal are prepared to offer \u20ac7m for IMT Belgrad defensive midfielder Vasilije Novi\u010di\u0107, a fee that would outbid both Red Star Belgrade and TSG Hoffenheim, who have each had offers of \u20ac5m rejected by the Serbian club, according to Direktno.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The 17-year-old, who will turn 18 in May and therefore become eligible to move to the UK this summer, is described as Arsenal\u2019s plan to sign and then loan out to a club where he can develop with consistent first-team football.<\/p>\n<p>The Gunners have been actively tracking the Serbian market in recent weeks, with Novi\u010di\u0107 joining Vasilije Kostov of Red Star Belgrade on their list of young Serbian targets ahead of the next window.<\/p>\n<h3>Who is Vasilije Novi\u010di\u0107 and why are Arsenal interested?<\/h3>\n<p><a id=\"HdSJ3AwoStNGw6xqjBsBJA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1438708875\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Novi\u010di\u0107 moved to IMT Belgrad as a free agent from FK Ole in 2024, having previously left FK Kosmet Leposavi\u0107\u2019s academy. His rise has been rapid. He has already made 52 appearances for the club across two seasons, starting 25 of his 27 league outings this term and accumulating 2,321 minutes of senior football at just 17.<\/p>\n<p>He has even captained the side on multiple occasions, an unusual responsibility for a player of his age and experience.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Vasilije Novi\u010di\u0107 is a Promising 17-year-old Serbian midfielder - 2025\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3xOufSu8z9U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>His stats this season reflect the profile of a ball-winning, defensively active midfielder who contributes effectively in transition. He is averaging 2.0 tackles, 1.1 interceptions and 4.3 ball recoveries per game, while also contributing eight goals and four assists from midfield, a return that demonstrates genuine attacking contribution beyond pure defensive work. The Serbia under-19 international has clearly caught the eye of clubs well beyond the Serbian league.<\/p>\n<h3>How serious is Arsenal\u2019s interest in Novi\u010di\u0107?<\/h3>\n<p><a id=\"XqZXwlchTlVBa0d1OTOYog\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2207993700\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Direktno report that Arsenal have<em> \u201cno problem\u201d<\/em> offering \u20ac7m, which would represent more than double his current Transfermarkt valuation of \u20ac3.5m.<\/p>\n<p>Red Star Belgrade remain determined to sign him and have made him their top summer target, but the Gunners\u2019 willingness to pay a significant premium gives them a decisive financial edge in this particular auction.<\/p>\n<p>The plan to loan him out immediately after signing suggests Arsenal are thinking about this as a long-term development investment rather than an immediate first-team addition. That is consistent with how they have operated in the Serbian market and with Arteta\u2019s broader approach to young talent acquisition.<\/p>\n<p>Novi\u010di\u0107 is represented by Serbian agency Family Football, owned by agent Rade Dunjic, and his contract at IMT runs until 2027, meaning the club hold leverage but also have incentive to sell at the right price before his value rises further.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"et_bloom_bottom_trigger\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"mvp-org-wrap\" itemprop=\"publisher\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Organization\">\n<div class=\"mvp-org-logo\" itemprop=\"logo\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/arsenalcore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/305x55arsenalcorelogo.png\"\/><meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"http:\/\/arsenalcore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/305x55arsenalcorelogo.png\"\/><\/div>\n<p><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"ArsenalCore\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal are prepared to offer \u20ac7m for IMT Belgrad defensive midfielder Vasilije Novi\u010di\u0107, a fee that would outbid both Red Star Belgrade and TSG Hoffenheim, who have each had offers of \u20ac5m rejected by the Serbian club, according to Direktno. The 17-year-old, who will turn 18 in May and therefore become eligible to move to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}