Nemanja Matic is a Serbian footballer who plays in the English Premier League for Manchester United and for the Serbian national team. Before making his move to Manchester, he has played for other top clubs including Benfica and Chelsea FC. Here are facts to know about the defensive midfielder.
Nemanja Matic Biography
The Serbian left-back was born on 1 August 1988 in the western Serbian city of Sebac in the former Yugoslavia. Of Macedonian descent whose parents survived the Second World War, it was in Serbia that he was brought up.
At a very early age, the United footballer began playing with his brother. His athletic skills were inherited from his parents from whom his brother also tapped.
When he first set out to play football, he was an attacking midfielder and it was his father who served as his first and earliest coach. Nonetheless, like anyone who is ever serious about playing at the professional level, young Matic had to find a youth club and because of this, he departed from home even before he was 10.
Wife and Family
As earlier pointed out, the defensive midfielder has a brother, Uroš Matić who was born on 23 May 1990. Just like his elder brother, the younger Matic is also a football player who plays as a midfielder in Denmark for FC Copenhagen.
The two brothers were raised by their parents: Dragan Matić (father) and Biljana Matić (mother). They have roots from present-day Macedonia from where their maternal grandparents came. The success of Nemanja and Uros as footballers could be tied to their father who was also a footballer in his younger days.
Just as he has come to give so much to his professional life, Nemanja Matic has also done the same for his personal life and he has a beautiful wife, Aleksandra Pavic to show for it. 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 a very close and beautiful couple. Their union has been blessed with 2 children: a son Filip whom he has signed up at the Manchester United academy and a daughter, Tea.
Club Football Career
Matic began his youth career with Vrelo in 1993 and from there, he moved to Obrenovac 1905 in 1997. His next move was to Red Star Belgrade in 2000, then Partizan in 2004, and finally Jedinstvo Ub in the same year.
He began his senior club career in 2005 with Kolubara and moved to Košice in 2009. It was from here that Chelsea signed him. Interestingly, he has remained the most expensive player to have ever left the club with a signing fee that was placed at over $6 million. Middlesbrough was another club that was 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 had David Luiz move to Stamford Bridge. After winning Primeira Liga and Taça da Liga with the club and playing a total of 99 games and 9 goals to show, Chelsea was back to sign him in 2014.
With his second move to Chelsea that lasted till 2017 when he moved to Manchester United, the Serbian star had won 2 English Premier League titles and one 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, the first time Matic appeared in the Serbian kits was in 2008 when he played for the Serbian under-21 team. He moved to the senior team in 2008 and by the time he would be invited for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, he had already had 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 height and body build anyone would need as a defender in the game of football. In fact, his build which complements his skills is one of the things that have helped him to succeed in almost all the clubs he has played for including the Serbian National team.
He has a height of 6 feet 4 inches (1.94m) and a weight of 185 lbs (84 kg). The overall body measurements of the player have not been released.
