Predrag Miyatovic is one of the most famous Yugoslav football players in history. The forward, who scored a considerable number of goals and played for the best clubs in Europe, earned a big name for himself with his talent and incredible goal flair. But how did his career develop? Predrag Miyatovic did not immediately become a top club player, he started small and gradually moved higher and higher.
Carier start
Predrag Miyatovic, born in Yugoslavia in 1969, changed several football schools while he was very young. But in the end, he ended up at the academy of the most famous Yugoslav Partizan club from Belgrade. It was with him, at the age of 18, that Predrag concluded his first professional contract, but for the first year he practically did not receive game practice.
A year later, Miyatovich was sent on loan to a lesser-known club called Buduchnost, for which he immediately began to play on an ongoing basis, scoring ten goals. Having gained experience, Predrag Miyatovich returned to Partizan, where he was already able to win a place at the base and play for his native club for four years. The athlete played 104 matches, in which he scored 45 goals - this is an impressive result.
Largely thanks to the efforts of the young striker in 1992, Partizan was able to win the championship and the country's cup at the same time. Naturally, such a talent could not go unnoticed for a long time, and in 1993, at the age of 24, Miyatovich moved to Spain, where he began playing for Valencia, which paid ten million euros crazy at that time.
Career at Valencia
In a new place, the attacker started playing instantly. There was a feeling that this was some kind of local Spanish talent, and not Yugoslav Predrag Miyatovic. His goals were just a sight for sore eyes, and he scored quite often. In Valencia, the player spent as many matches as in his previous club - 104, but scored even more goals - 56. This was an incredible result, and Miyatovic became more and more famous in the world. When he was 27 years old, the athlete was able to jump to the very top - to become a player in one of the most powerful clubs in the world - Real Madrid. The Royal Club laid out the “Valencia” for the top striker 14 million euros.
Climbing to the top
And here is the high point of the career that Predrag Miyatovic could achieve - Real Madrid - the club every footballer dreams of. Here, Yugoslav also spent three years, but his performance fell slightly. Over ninety matches, the athlete scored thirty goals - the result is good, but still not as outstanding as the management of the greatest club would like. Moreover, it is worth noting that in 1999 Miyatovich was already thirty years old, so it was difficult to expect that he would rapidly develop further. Therefore, Real Madrid made a profitable deal: it sold the aging forward to Italy to the Fiorentina club, which paid 12 million euros for it.
Relocation to Italy
Of course, many expected excellent football from the once great striker, but age made itself felt, and the championship was completely unfamiliar, compared to Spain, where Predrag spent six years of his life. The result was a strong recession: for three years in Fiorentin Miyatovich played only 42 matches, in which he scored 4 years - this is incredibly small when compared with his previous results. Miyatovich’s three-year contract came to an end, and he decided to return to Spain, where he felt more comfortable. With a 33-year-old football player, the Levante club decided to sign a one-year contract.
Return to Spain
Naturally, in “Levant” Miyatovich played the role of an icon rather than an actual player. But even so, he played 21 matches and scored three more goals. On this, the great Yugoslav striker decided to strike a player’s career. With Real Madrid, Miyatovich became the champion of Spain and the owner of the Champions League Cup, with Fiorentina - the winner of the Italian Cup, even with Partizan he won the championship and the Yugoslav Cup (twice). In the national team of Yugoslavia, Miyatovich played 70 matches, scoring 37 goals in them, four more games fell on the period after the partition of the country, and he played for the national team of Montenegro, for which he could not score.
What's next?
However, Predrag Miyatovic did not immediately break his ties with football. The athlete’s wife, of course, was waiting for him at home, but he only rested for three years. After that, the former footballer returned to Real Madrid, where he took up the post of sports director and stayed there for three years until May 2009. Then Miyatovich went into the shadows and to this day does not occupy any position in any of the clubs.
There were some rumors about his appointment as a sports director in other clubs. Most of the talk was about the London Chelsea, but in the end nothing came of it. Also, an athlete through old friendships helped other people who held leadership positions in clubs: negotiated with players and so on, but there was nothing serious. And since 2011, Miyatovich as a participant in the football life has hardly been recalled at all.