Under-20 World Cup star's agent confirms Chelsea interest

Fresh off their dramatic, unexpected, victorious trip to New Zealand and the U20 World Cup, Serbia's U20 national football team returned home to a heroes' welcome.  Over 50,000 people packed the square in front of Belgrade's city hall, while the team also received a personal congratulatory message from the president, in which he held up the youngsters as role models above even the senior team (including our very own Branislav Ivanovic and Nemanja Matic) who continue to flounder in Euro 2016 qualifying.

Amazing scenes in Belgrade, as Serbia welcomes back U20 squad from New Zealand as Word Champions! pic.twitter.com/IlTGuD851C

— VUJ-EEKY NANDOS (@TheVujanic) June 22, 2015

Among the winners was 18-year-old Andrija Zivkovic, to whom we referred as 'new Messi' the first time his name popped up on the Chelsea radar.  The moniker was given semi-jokingly; as we saw at the U20 World Cup, there's real talent there and it's unsurprising that teams around Europe are interested in whisking him away from Partizan Belgrade.  Previous rumors about Chelsea's interest were tenuous at best, but Zivkovic's agent Pedja Djordjevic has seen fit to solidify that a bit.  Incidentally, Djordjevic is not the only agent involved: our good pal Pini Zahavi is around as well.  Of course he is.

"[Our aim] is to analyse all the options we have, and decide calmly. Valencia and Chelsea are two of the clubs who are interested in Zivkovic."

-Pedja Djordjevic; source: ESPN

Last time we were in a fight with a team from the Iberian Peninsula over a Serbian prospect at Partizan agented by Zahavi, Lazar Sharkovic Markovic ended up choosing not us.  Let's see how this one shakes out.  Incidentally, (again), Jorge Mendes is a bigwig over at Valencia in some capacity.  It's wheels within wheels within wheels when it comes agents and transfers.