The ability of the manager, not the quality of the players

Andrija Vukčević in Seville, reverberated through the Montenegrin football scene.

It echoed when Luka Đorđević went to Zenit, Marko Bakić to Torino, Petar Grbić to Olimpiakos, and Aleksandar Boljević, Boris Cmiljanić, Anđelo Rudović and Žarko Grbović to PSV.

None of them, however, at least for now, has taken a step further - becoming the first team of major European clubs. Rudović and Grbović returned to Montenegro.

"I am in favor of young players going abroad, in order to reach a level there that they would not be able to do here. I am sure, however, that it is not being done as it should be", says Branislav Milačić, who trained four footballers in Mogren (Đorđević, Bakić, Rudović, Grbović), who made "glamorous" transfers.

"The young players don't reach the level of leading the game either, and they go to teams where they certainly can't play. If the guys I coached had stayed for another year or two, I'm sure they would have had a better status in the clubs where they continued their careers too soon. "I am sure that Grbović and Rudović came back weaker than they were when they left," Milačić points out.

There is, Milačić points out, another side of the story.

"It seems to me that at this moment the ability of the manager is more important than the quality of the players. There is a lot of haste, it is possible that parents believe that it is better for their children to leave as soon as possible, but the right transfer never escapes the right player," Milacic believes.

Be that as it may, and in any way, by leaving a poor league - both playing and financially - young footballers get the chance they've been dreaming of. In the fight for a place under the sun on the big stage, managers, however, cannot help, and the problem that players from Montenegrin clubs cannot impose themselves in serious and strong competition, Milačić points out, is much more complex.

"The fact is that Montenegro never had a serious club, but only serious players. And nowadays, behind every serious player is a serious club. The purpose of our clubs' existence is three points on the domestic stage, third place in the league, the budget for the next season, and they are not interested in young players and working with them. On the contrary, the youth school for them is just an imposition and a burden," Milačić points out.

Clubs urgently need to understand that only by investing in young players do they have a chance to survive in the time of expansion of the football business...

"It is a business for serious people, football has become an industry. Only when someone appears who will understand that investments in young players can pay off and that this is the only way, we will tell serious football stories. Money on talented children is not wasted money. After all, what would we do - if our children signed scholarship contracts, and the clubs demanded enormous compensation? Well, that cannot happen today," Milačić concludes.

A ridiculous figure for "our Bale"

"How is it possible that Vukčević, whom we used to call our Bale, goes to Seville for 130 thousand euros", asks Milacić.

"It's a ridiculous figure, anyone who understands football and football trends laughs at it".

As a comparison, Milačić cites the transder of Partizan Šaponjić in Benfica.

"Partizan received a million and a half, and that is already a serious sum, and Šaponjić will have more attention and a chance there, than Vukčević in Seville".