Sergej Milinković-Savić

Sergej Milinković-Savić (Сергеј Милинковић-Савић, ; born 27 February 1995), also known mononymously as Sergej, is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal and the Serbia national team.

Consequently, Milinković-Savić signed his first professional contract with the club on 26 December 2012, penning a three-year deal.

Milinković-Savić began his professional career at Serbian club Vojvodina and helped them win the Serbian Cup in the 2013–14 season.

Milinković-Savić made his senior debut in a 3–0 away loss to Jagodina on 23 November 2013.

In total, Milinković-Savić made 13 league appearances and scored three goals in the 2013–14 season.

He also helped Vojvodina win the 2013–14 Serbian Cup in the club's centennial year.

He played for Serbia at the 2013 UEFA Under-19 Championship, winning the gold medal.

He played the full 90 minutes in four out of five games, including the final match of the competition against France that Serbia won 1–0.

He joined Belgian club Genk in June 2014, where he played 24 games before transferring to Italian club Lazio one year later.

He made over 300 appearances for Lazio and won the Coppa Italia once and the Supercoppa Italiana twice.

He scored his first goal in a 1–1 away draw with Spartak Subotica on 9 March 2014.

In June 2014, Milinković-Savić signed a five-year contract with Belgian club Genk and was given the number 20 shirt.

He made his competitive debut for the club in a 1–1 home league draw with Cercle Brugge on 2 August 2014.

He scored a total of five league goals in 24 appearances during the 2014–15 season.

Subsequently, Milinković-Savić appeared at the 2014 UEFA Under-19 Championship, as the team was eliminated in the semi-final by Portugal after penalties.

He missed Serbia's last spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out.

He was a member of the Serbian team that won the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup and received the tournament's Bronze Ball award for his performances.

Milinković-Savić scored his first goal for Genk in a 1–1 away league draw against Lokeren on 18 January 2015.

On 31 July 2015, it was announced that Milinković-Savić would join Italian club Lazio.

He made his debut for the side in a 1–0 home win over Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of the Champions League play-off round on 18 August 2015.

Milinković-Savić scored his first goal for Lazio in a 1–1 Europa League draw with Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk on 17 September 2015.

The following summer, Milinković-Savić was one of Serbia's most influential players at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup, as the team won the tournament.

He scored his first Serie A goal in a 3–1 away win over Fiorentina on 9 January 2016.

Throughout his debut season, Milinković-Savić made 35 appearances and scored three goals for Lazio in all competitions.

In his second season at Lazio, Milinković-Savić scored seven goals from 39 appearances (league and cup).

On 5 December 2021, Milinković-Savić became the highest-scoring midfielder in Lazio's history following his goal against Sampdoria.

He beat previous holder Pavel Nedvěd, who had the record of 33 goals for over a decade.

On 12 July 2023, Saudi club Al Hilal announced the signing of Milinković-Savić on a three-year deal, for a reported fee of €40 million.

In January 2023 it was revealed by former Lazio sporting director Igli Tare: “A lot of things have been said about Milinkovic-Savic that are not true… the only thing that is true is that Lotito [Lazio president] turned down a very important offer, over £85 million, from AC Milan and #mufc.”

Milinković-Savić represented Serbia at under-19, under-20 and under-21 levels.

He was named in the Serie A Team of the Year in the 2017–18 season and won the league's Best Midfielder award in the 2018–19 season.

Milinković-Savić played youth international football for Serbia at under-19, under-20 and under-21 levels.

He made his senior international debut in 2017 and represented Serbia at the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups.

Milinković-Savić was born into a sporting family in Lleida, Catalonia, Spain, where his father Nikola Milinković played football professionally at the time.

His mother, Milana Savić, was a professional basketball player.

He first started training with Sporting CP, while his father was playing in Portugal.

He then spent a few years at Grazer AK in Austria before moving to his native Serbia where he broke through as a footballer.

Milinković-Savić is the older brother of Vanja Milinković-Savić, a fellow footballer who plays as a goalkeeper.

Milinković-Savić came through the youth academy of Vojvodina.

He was one of the midfielders who emerged from the youth squad that won two consecutive national youth championship titles, alongside Mijat Gaćinović and Nebojša Kosović.