Dejan Savicevic (Montenegro) 1992 – 1998
The exciting Savicevic typified many of the perceived stereotypes of a fantasista during his time in Italy: brilliant one week, able to turn a game on its head with a piece of genius, anonymous the next.
It hardly helped that he joined probably the best club team in the world at the time, AC Milan, in full midst of the ‘3-non-Italian’s only rule’ whilst the squad was already crammed full of quality stranieri in the form of Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Zvonimir Boban and Jean-Pierre Papin.
What also didn’t help matters was that he seemed to be something of an unwanted purchase by the manager at the time, Fabio Capello, and more of a presidential signing by one Silvio Berlusconi.
As the stranieri dwindled away, Savicevic remained and probably had the best game of his career during the famous 1994 Champions League Final, taking centre-stage as Milan demolished a heavily favoured Barcelona 4-0, with Milan’s number 10 scoring a sublime lob – one of the finest goals the final has ever seen.
With superb close control and wonderful vision, and whether playing out wide or more centrally, an on-form Savicevic took some stopping.
’90s Serie A clubs: AC Milan
’90s Serie A apps/goals: 97/20
’90s Serie A honours: Serie A title x 3, UEFA Champions League, UEFA European Supercup, Italian Supercup x 2
