Nemanja Matic is a Serbian footballer who plays in the English Premier League for Manchester United and for the Serbian national team. Before moving to Manchester, he played for other top clubs including Benfica and Chelsea FC. Here are facts you need to know about the defensive midfielder.
Nemanja Matic Biography
The Serbian left-back was born on August 1, 1988 in the western Serbian town of Sebac in the former Yugoslavia. Of Macedonian origin whose parents survived World War II, he was raised in Serbia.
At an early age, the American football player began to play with his brother. His athletic skills were inherited from his parents from whom his brother also operated.
When he started playing football, he was an attacking midfielder and it was his father who was his first and first coach. Nevertheless, like anyone who is serious about playing professionally, the young Matic had to find a youth club and because of that he left his home before he was even 10 years old.
wife and family
As stated earlier, the defensive midfielder had a brother, Uroš Matić who was born on May 23, 1990. Just like his big brother, young Matic is also a football player who plays in Denmark as a midfielder for FC Copenhagen.
Both brothers were raised by their parents: Dragan Matić (father) and Biljana Matić (mother). They have roots from present-day Macedonia where their maternal grandparents came from. The successes of Nemanja and Uros as footballers could be linked to their father who was also a footballer in his youth.
Just as he came to give a lot to his professional life, Nemanja Matic also did the same in his personal life and he has a beautiful wife, Aleksandra Pavic, to whom she goes. Pavic, just like the footballer is also from Serbia and they have been dating since they were teenagers.
They decided to tie the knot in 2010 and since then they have remained very close and a lovely couple. Their union was blessed with 2 children: a son Filip whom he enrolled in the Manchester United academy and a daughter, Tea.
Club football career
Matic started his career with Vrelo in 1993 and from there he moved to Obrenovac in 1905 in 1997. He then moved to Red Star Belgrade in 2000, then Partizan in 2004 and finally Jedinstvo Ub in the same year.
He started his senior club career in 2005 with Kolubara and moved to Košice in 2009. It was from there that Chelsea signed him. Interestingly, he remained the most expensive player to ever leave the club with a signing fee of over $6 million. Middlesbrough were another club interested in signing the midfielder at the time.
After just 2 games with Chelsea, Matic was sent on loan to Vitesse and from there he was signed by Benfica in 2011 in a deal that included David Luiz’s transfer to Stamford Bridge. After winning the Primeira Liga and Taça da Liga with the club and playing 99 appearances and scoring 9 goals, Chelsea were back to sign him in 2014.
With his second move to Chelsea which lasted until the 2017 move to Manchester United, the Serbian star had won two English Premier League titles and an FA Cup. By the end of the 2017/2018 season, he had already played 49 games for Manchester, scoring 2 goals.
International football career
For his home country, Matic appeared in Serbia kits in 2008 when he played for the Serbia U21 team. He entered the senior team in 2008 and by the time he would be invited to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, he had already netted 38 caps and 2 goals for the Serbian national team.
Height, weight and body measurements
Nemanja Matic is a well-built player who has the size and muscle build anyone would need as a defender in football. In fact, his training which complements his skills is one of the things that helped him succeed at almost every club he played for, including the Serbian national team.
He has a height of 1.94 m and a weight of 84 kg. The player’s overall body measurements have not been released.