Simić Amazed by Milosavljev’s Berlin Exit: “With This Form, He Deserves an Auction”
When statistics or journalists talk about something, it carries one kind of meaning, but it feels different when it comes from people with whom you have shared the same bread. That was also the case with this season’s EHF European League hero with MT Melsungen, Nebojša Simić, who had nothing but praise for the form of Serbian national team goalkeeper and fellow keeper Dejan Milosavljev. Popular “Banda” said goodbye to Berlin with a Bundesliga runners-up finish after seven years, while the grand finale and his final chance to win the EHF Champions League with the club from the capital awaits him next weekend in Cologne.
Asked whether and how he explains the fact that Milosavljev will not remain in Berlin after such an impressive seven-year spell, Simić had this comment:
“For me, it is unbelievable. For me, it is also unbelievable to change a coach when you are champions, and to let your first goalkeeper leave without replacing him properly. First of all, how do you replace Milosavljev in an adequate way? You need to set aside serious money and find the right timing for such a change to even be possible. I consider myself someone without ego. As for last season, I think I had a better season than he did, but this season, nobody is saving better than him. Nobody. He is a goalkeeper in the best form in the world, without competition. Every game — 17, 19, 14, 15, 14 saves — and when you watch the match, every single time a save is needed, that one crucial save, there he is, he makes it. That is what I value most in a goalkeeper. When the pressure rises, when there is smoke in the air, the man is saving like crazy this season. What surprises me is not only that he is leaving Berlin, but that he is going to Kielce. That is surprising to me as well. With the form he is in, there should be a bidding war for him,” Simić emphasized, half-jokingly showing how highly he rates his colleague.
