La Repubblica: Vučić's son is the manager of footballer Dušan Vlahović

When the leaders of the Fiorentina soccer club from Florence started negotiations with Serbian soccer player and national team member Dušan Vlahović a few months ago, they believed that with a generous offer they would be able to keep the best young striker of the Italian first league.

With the salary offered by Fiorentina, Vlahović would become the highest paid player in the history of this Italian club, the club's president claimed – he would receive more than football legends Gabriel Batistuta and Rui Costa. The negotiations, however, did not go as expected.

"His agent should come to Florence, he is conducting the negotiations. I told him he was taking a lot of risk. We are offering him 40 million for five years. I work for a whole year for what he can get in two, three days," club president Rocco Comiso told reporters at the end of September this year.

Just a week later, Comiso issued a statement. Despite the tempting offer, Vlahović still did not agree to continue cooperation with the club for which he played for the last three years.

"We increased the offer several times in order to satisfy both Dusan and the people around him, but despite our efforts, the proposal for a new contract was not accepted."

In the termination of the contract, as the Italian newspaper "La Repubblica" writes, the agents who represented Vlahović played a significant role. They seem to have had bigger appetites.

The young striker is represented by the agency "International Sports Office" from Belgrade and its director Darko Ristić. Among the agents in charge of Vlahović, however, Danilo Vučić, the son of the President of Serbia, has recently been mentioned, this Italian newspaper writes.

"Danilo Vučić is one of the representatives of the attackers, and also the son of the current president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić. Among other things, Vučić came into the public spotlight because of a photo that shows him in the company of people from the Serbian underground, so much so that his father had to intervene in the midst of the election campaign," writes this Italian newspaper.

Italian sports media also announced that young Vučić is Vlahović's agent. The "FirenzeViola" portal writes that the president's son is influential in the agency, and is also a good friend of the young football player.

Fiorentina, however, did not officially confirm that the young Vučić also participated in the negotiations as an agent.

Vlahović's official agent, Darko Ristic, claims for KRIK that the statements of the Italian press, which link the president's son to Vlahović, are untrue.

"Danilo Vučić is in no way engaged in the agency 'International Sports Office', nor has he ever been, so he is not the agent of football player Dušan Vlahović either," stated Ristić in a written reply.

KRIK journalists sent questions to the President of Serbia and Danilo Vučić through Suzana Vasiljević, the president's media advisor.

"'La Repubblica' has put forward the most terrible fabrications about a boy who has never, I repeat never, been in that business. What is most frightening, they do not cite a single relevant source for their findings, nor a confirmation that Danilo was in contact regarding this topic. I will advise Danilo to get lawyers and to sue them, because this is a scandal of international proportions", stated the president's advisor and added that there is no need for the president and his son to advertise about this.

"This is enough. "La Repubblica" did not even bother to ask Danilo for a comment, therefore, there is no need for him to respond to something in which he is involved against his will," Vasiljević told KRIK.

Provision

Charity dinner

At the beginning of September, the prestigious Italian restaurant "Da Vittorio" published photos from the charity dinner, and Danilo Vučić was on them. A meal in this restaurant with three Michelin stars, where the prices range between 40 and 170 euros, would represent a large expenditure for a person with a salary of 500 euros, which, according to the president, his son earns. It is not known in what capacity the young Vučić was at this event, but it coincided with the negotiations that Vlahović was conducting in Fiorentina. His father said that Danilo learned to cook in a famous restaurant. "My son is being attacked just because he went to learn to cook. He works in a wine shop and wants to learn about cooking," said Vučić.

During several months of negotiations, Vlahović and Fiorentina's management were close to an agreement twice, writes "La Repubblica", but both times the agents were dissatisfied.

The last offer was on the table at the end of September. To continue playing for Fiorentina until 2026, the club offered Vlahović 24 million euros, a buyout clause of 75 million euros (the lowest price for which Fiorentina would sell him) and 3 million commissions for agents.

The agents did not ask for a higher fee for Vlahović or better purchase terms, but, as "La Repubblica" writes, more money for themselves - 5 million euros commission and 10 percent in case of sale. The Florentines retreated.

The commission of 3 million euros that Fiorentina offered to the agents is 12,5 percent of the footballer's fee. FIFA announces that starting next year, it could limit the amount of managerial work to 3 percent of the fee and 10 percent in the case of sales. FIFA announces that it will introduce licenses and a mandatory test for agents.

Agency and club

The President of Serbia often points out that he is proud that his son is an ordinary worker whose salary does not exceed the average salary in Serbia. Young Danilo, like his father, is a fan of wine and, as far as is known, he is employed in the wine shop "Wine and pleasure".

In addition to wine, the young Vučić also nurtures a penchant for football. It is known that Danilo is a frequent visitor to matches and a fan, but this is, however, the first time that it has been publicly announced that the president's successor is building a career in the lucrative business of sports management.

The agency "International sports office" was founded in early 2015 by two men who until then were not well-known names in the business of selling players: Branko Radovanović and Dejan Grgić. About Grgić, the Center for Investigative Journalism (CINS) previously wrote that he is a friend of the Secretary General of the Government of Serbia, Novak Nedić.

Shortly after its establishment, the agency took over some of the most talented Partizan football players. He does not know how the cooperation with Vlahović came about, but as a fifteen-year-old, just two weeks after the agency was founded, he signed a contract with Partizan, as CINS previously wrote.

This is happening at a time when Nedic and other people close to the Serbian Progressive Party are coming to the Partizan football club. In order for Nedić's current to become enthroned in the club, the support of the fans was also needed, as former club vice-president Vladimir Vuletić told KRIK earlier.

The brutal criminal supporter group "Janjičari", led by Aleksandar Stanković Salet Mutavi, imposed itself on the southern stand in mid-2013, and by the end of that year it had cleared the stand of rivals. The following year was also marked by the takeover of the administration supported by the votes of the fans. Nedic became a member of the board of directors, but already in April 2014 he resigned from this position. He maintained his influence through his godfather, who became the director of the club - Miloš Vazura, but also through the fans.

Hooligans

Aleksandar Vidojević, also known as Aca Rošavi, played an important role in the "Janjičari" fan group.

Proceedings were conducted against him for violent behavior, robbery and illegal carrying of weapons. He is also a member of the assembly of the football club Partizan from among the fans.

In earlier police reports, obtained by KRIK, Vidojević was also identified as an associate of the notorious Montenegrin kavak clan.

But what made him famous in the public eye was his acquaintance with Danilo Vučić.

They have been seen together several times. Danilo Vučić was spotted with Vidojević and other fans at the 2018 FIFA World Cup match in Samara. They were photographed together again at the beginning of last year at the Republika Srpska Day celebration in Banja Luka. KRIK journalists found another photo in which Vučić hugs Vidojević in a nightclub, but it is not known when it was taken. The KRIK journalist, the author of this text, took another picture of them while they were watching a football match together in a cafe in the center of Belgrade in June last year, after which she was stopped by Vučić's security and asked to delete the photo, and the hooligans took her phone.

These dangerous acquaintances are not disputed for young Vučić, but neither for his father. For the president of Serbia, Vidojević aka Aca Rošavi is a fan - not a criminal.

"That young man has never been prosecuted for any drugs. He was prosecuted for fights twice, never legally convicted... These are fans, not any members of the Kavaka clan. They made everything up and lied," Vučić said in May last year.

KRIK