Nikola Milenković

Nikola Milenković (Никола Миленковић, ; born 12 October 1997) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Fiorentina and the Serbia national team.

The quest to begin his career journey began in Žarkovo, where his family lived.

Because Nikola grew up in that Belgrade neighbourhood, it was easy for his parents (notably his Mother) to identify a suitable academy he could train with.

After having a successful trial, the youngster got enrolled in the academy roaster of OFK Žarkovo.

This is a famous professional football academy based in Žarkovo.

Nikola laid his career foundation on solid footings in this nice academy.

Nikola had an excellent start to his youth career, as he surpassed his teammates in both training and games.

OFK Žarkovo’s youth coach (Nikola Jelic) observed Nikola’s attributes and was very eager to discuss the boy’s future.

All he wanted was for Nikola to excel fast, and Jelic noticed that his continuous stay with OFK Žarkovo wasn’t the right option.

At 15, the youngster had a successful trial with Teleoptik.

This bigger and better academy came with a limitation – which is distance.

On many occasions, Nikola’s mother got worried about how her son would travel and get to school (on time) and still balance his football obligation.

Because of the issue with distance, there came this quest to change Nikola’s academy.

Thankfully, word came out that Partizan was looking for kids.

This is an elite Serbian football club based in Belgrade.

Because of their reputation, it is really hard to pass their academy trials.

Nikola Milenković was among 30 other kids who were approved to come for trials with the great club.

Only five passed, and Nikola was one of them.

Passing the youth categories of Partizan, Milenković was loaned to Teleoptik for the 2015–16 season.

Milenković scored his first senior goal for Partizan in the last fixture of the 2015–16 Serbian SuperLiga, against Vojvodina, which was the hundredth goal of the club for the season.

At the beginning of 2016, he joined the first team of Partizan under coach Ivan Tomić and signed a five-year contract, but also stayed with Teleoptik on dual registration until the end of season.

Several days after debut for U19 national team, he made his debut for Partizan in a SuperLiga match against Mladost Lučani played on 10 April 2016.

He started in a match against Čukarički in round 32 of the same season and received a red card for a brutal foul on Petar Bojić, which resulted in a suspension for the next four matches.

Milenković started new season pairing with Cédric Gogoua for the second qualifying round of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League against Zagłębie Lubin.

He also started SuperLiga competition in the first fixture match against OFK Bačka before spending the following two rounds on the bench.

After several bad results and some injuries of the players in defense, Milenković started playing continuously from the fourth fixture against Javor Ivanjica onwards.

He scored his first season goal in a match against Rad, played on 27 August 2016.

He also made his Serbian Cup debut in the first round match, against Napredak Kruševac on 21 September 2016.

After Miroslav Vulićević's injury in a cup match against Žarkovo on 25 October 2016, Milenković wore the captain's armbrand.

In February 2017, he was listed as one of the 30 best youth footballers in the world by the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport.

he scored his third goal for Partizan as a senior in 27 fixture match of the season against Voždovac, played on 18 March 2017.

On 27 May, in his last match for Partizan, Milenković scored a header against Partizan's biggest rival Red Star which won the game and clinched Partizan's double of the season, winning both the league and cup competitions.

On 24 May 2017, Partizan president Milorad Vučelić confirmed that Milenković would be joining Serie A side Fiorentina in the summer.

The transfer fee was reported as €5.1 million.

Milenković made his debut for Fiorentina in 1–0 away victory over Cagliari on 22 December 2017, having played 84 minutes of the game.

During the first few months, Nikola was getting used to his new environment and that's why Viola coach Stefano Pioli didn't often include him in the starting line-up.

However, the tragic death of the team captain Davide Astori made Pioli change his mind and include Nikola in the starting eleven more often.

At the start of 2018–19 Serie A season matchday 2, Milenković scored his first goal at Stadio Artemio Franchi in 6–1 win over ChievoVerona.

On 20 April 2019 Milenković scored 6th minute opener in 2–1 away defeat against rivals Juventus.

In the first round of the 2019–20 season against Napoli, Milenković scored the second goal for his team as a 7-goal thriller ends in Napoli's favor.