One Balkan star in Aston Villa seems to have considered his move to Villa Park as a mistake and regretted it.
Aston Villa in the mid 1990s was the era when the club was entering the football globalization era. Almost all clubs in the Premier League began to sign international players from European continent including from Eastern Europe, instead of just the talents in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
In the 1996/97 season during Brian Little’s spell, Villa had two Balkan stars. They were the forward Savo Milosevic and the attacking midfielder, Sasa Curcic.
Plenty of Villa fans might remember the former but only a few would even recall the latter in Brian Little’s squad. The former Yugoslavian frontman did not appear to enjoy his stint in B6. In fact,he regretted it as reported in Daily Mail, when he was doing interviews with Sportsmail.
“A mistake. I should have stayed, I was a hero. Roy McFarland (Bolton boss) would say, “Sasa, don’t worry about defence, get the ball and do your thing”. At Villa, Brian Little tried to make me defend. What a waste.”
Curcic was a Bolton star. He was the key man there when they were competing in the Premier League 1995/96, netting five goals and two assists. Unfortunately, his fine form was not enough to save their campaign at the top flight. So, he was sold to the West Midland side for £ 4 million, a record in Villa transfer at that time.
However, during his stint in B6, he could not replicate his top form in Bolton while playing for The Clarets and Blue. Unlike Milosevic who contributed well on the pitch, Curcic was the opposite. He was more of a standout figure off the pitch. The former Partizan Belgrade man recalled his bold act with Stan Collymore at that time.
“‘Myself and Stan (Collymore) left at 2am and saw a double-decker party bus — open top, champagne, pretty girls. I said, “Stan, we need to do this, I’m getting one”.
‘So I did. A few weeks later I hired a bus for the team and brought models. It was amazing, driving around, drinking, and singing. They were talking about it in the Villa dressing room for months!”
Curcic was also infamous for missing the game just to get a nose job. His wild lifestyle really held him back and eventually ruined his career. His disagreement with his boss due to being deployed deeper in the midfield rather than being given a freer role as number 10 just like in Bolton only made his time in Bodymoor Heath worse.
During his brief stint in Villa Park, he only made 34 appearances in two seasons, scoring one goal and two assists. The Belgrade-born midfielder never really played regularly and mainly came off the bench.
Unsurprisingly, he was sold by Villa to Crystal Palace in the middle of 1997/98 season. Once again, he could not salvage his team from relegation but this time he stayed in Selhurst Park.
He soon made a switch to the USA by joining New York MetroStars but once again, his career was beyond saving due to being too busy off the pitch, including partying with NBA Stars like Dennis Rodman and Michael Jordan. The midfielder with 14 international caps only stayed there for six months. He then returned to Europe to join Scottish side Motherwell before eventually hanging his boots at the age of 29!
In the end, he felt more regret than joy, as he reflected on his playing career.
“I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it, I did. ‘But my dream was to play for Partizan, my team. I should have stayed. I would have my own stand, I’d be manager.
‘Coming here was an accident. Bolton came to watch our right-back but he got injured. I said I’d play, I wasn’t meant to. The scout loved me and…’
‘But all the craziness here, the silly money, it spoiled me, it messed me up. I would have been a different person. I wouldn’t have cried for millions of pounds, I wasn’t brought up that way.”
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