Pavlovic plays himself into focus
Serbia wants to poach Bayern’s jewel from the DFB
March 7, 2024, 5:58 p.m
Aleksandar Pavlovic is attracting attention at FC Bayern and has secured a regular place in midfield. The German junior selection player is also expected to play for Serbia – which is why the local association wants to bring him into the national team.
The Serbian Football Association is courting Aleksandar Pavlovic and wants to dissuade the FC Bayern talent from possible appearances for the German national team. The FSS association said there was a meeting last weekend between sporting director Stevan Stojanovic and the parents of the 19-year-old Munich native. However, he was told that Pavlovic did not want to make a decision at the moment and that this should happen after the European Championships in Germany, Stojanovic reported.
The Serbian association already wanted to nominate Pavlovic for the A team for the upcoming international matches in March and the subsequent European Championships in Germany. Now the hope is that the midfielder will wear the Serbian jersey from autumn onwards, said Stojanovic. Pavlovic played for the German U20 last November and is still eligible to play for the senior national teams of both countries.
Most recently, Pavlovic described the opportunity to play for the German national team at the home European Championships this summer as a “dream” on “t-online”. “That would be very nice.” According to a report from Sky, Pavlovic will be nominated for the upcoming German U21 appearances. Even after that, a change of nation would still be possible. Curious: Pavlovic, who fought for a regular place in midfield at Bayern, would be the record champions’ first professional player in the U21s in almost 18 years. The last one so far was goalkeeper Michael Rensing in 2006.
Pavlovic has made 14 competitive appearances so far and was most recently in the starting line-up for the Champions League advance against Lazio. Most recently, 18-year-old Can Uzun from 1. FC Nürnberg decided against a future in the German national team and for Turkey.