Renowned world sports media wrote yesterday about the two talented football players, next to whom the Montenegrin flag stands in the biographical data of specialized football portals, such as the highly respected and accurate Transfermarkt.
One of them - Dženan Pejčinović - who is quite well known to us, at least to the wider football public, played the first minutes for the first team of Wolfsburg this season. The forward, who turns 19 in February, played from the 76th minute on the road to Heidenheim in the Bundesliga. He made his debut in the elite German ranks, under Niko Kovac, in the last round of the last championship.
A few years ago, Pejčinović was in the preparations of the pioneer national team of Montenegro and played two friendly matches, and "Vijesti" wrote about him when he moved from Augsburg to Wolfsburg in July 2022, as well as when giants such as Juventus and Manchester City, while the media in Germany described him as a "German Montenegrin".
Yesterday, another boy "with the Montenegrin flag" was launched into orbit, at least as far as the world public is concerned - "Gazeta delo sport" writes about Adin Ličina, as a new extra talent, who could continue his career in Milan, if he, however, let Bayern go.
Adin Ličina turned 14 years ago 17 days ago, he plays for Bayern's youth team (U19), and "Gazeta" writes about him as "a German talent of Montenegrin origin and one of the best representatives of the club's academy from Munich".
Ličina, although he just turned 17, is in the team with players two years older, and in the junior Bundesliga he has five goals and two assists, as a classic "ten".
"Gazeta" devoted the text to the interest of Milan, comparing him with 18-year-old Kenan Yildiz, an increasingly important player of the first team of Juventus, who came to Turin from Bayern.
"But Bayern doesn't want to make a mistake, like with Yildiz, so a new contract is being prepared for Ličina", writes the paper, noting that Ličina has a contract until June 30, 2025, and that Christoph Freund (sports director) is working on the new contract. and Halil Altintop (the first man of the youth school).
And what else do 18-year-old Pejčinović and 17-year-old Ličina have in common, apart from the fact that they are obviously great talents and have Montenegrin origins (and a flag next to their names)?
Both are standard members of the junior selections of Germany, the country where they were born (Pejčinović in Munich, Ličina in Landshut, a small town near Munich) and grew up.
After the cadet team (U17), with which he played at the European Championship, Pejčinović continued to play for the U18 and U19 national teams, with an impressive goal-scoring performance in all categories - in total, 33 games, 33 goals!
Ličina played for the U16, now he is a member of the U17 "elf" selection (two matches, one goal), and there is no doubt that he will continue to play in the next competitive cycle, considering his potential and talent.
And regardless of the fact that the Montenegrin flag is next to their name, as well as their undoubted origin from Montenegro, the very fact that they were born and matured in Germany, that in fierce competition they won a place among the greatest talents in one of the greatest football traditions , that they are written and talked about, that their development is monitored at the highest possible level, the chances that, at least in the foreseeable future, they will change the colors of the national jersey - practically do not exist.
Their choice, it seems, is logical, at least at this moment - both from the (especially) professional side, but also from the, realistically, "emotional" side, because Germany is, after all, their homeland.
There are, of course, different examples (Rakitić - Switzerland/Croatia, Samardžić - Germany/Serbia, Jildiz - Germany/Turkey...), but also examples like Džaka's and Šaćiri's, who, despite a clearly and publicly expressed sense of belonging to Kosovo, yet when they could choose they decided to continue playing for Switzerland...
Bonus video:
