Name to Remember: Nikon Jevtic, aka “The Miracle Child”

By: chris | January 18th, 2008

If age is any indication, it’s going to be a long time before you hear this kid’s name again. If his rumored exploits against older competition and YouTuber videos are any indication, it won’t be long. Nikon is a 14 year old wunderkid who currently plays for Schalke 04 (just like Ivan Rakitic, last week’s Name to Remember - nice youth philosophy they’ve got) in their youth system, and was born in England to Serbian parents who were there because they’d fled the war in the Balkans. And before Ingerland fans go ahead and anoint him The Saviour, he’s rumored to be ready to declare for Serbia, even at such a young age. So he’s Serbia’s Saviour. But when a talent is this good, all of football will be able to enjoy the ” The Miracle Child”, the name which the print media has bestowed upon Nikon.

Being just 14, El Maestro (his preferred nickname) has surely had his run of youth clubs thus far (though mostly due to his father’s profession); already playing for Stuttgart, Austria Vienna and Valencia before being poached by Schalke, who are surely sitting up in their board room smoking Cubans and pouring Cristal all over each other in mass celebration based on this kid’s talent. How Valencia let this kid get away is beyond me. (Yeah, there’s been a flop or two, but talent like this at his age doesn’t come along often.)

Legend has it Nikon scored 6 goals against the Stuttgart U15 squad…when he was 10 years old. I scored 6 goals in a game when I was 11, but that was against a local U12 side and I’m pretty sure the keeper was caught picking his nose on at least two of them. To do that against a squad which scouts its participants, an older squad no less, is quite sensational. At the time, a relatively unknown prospect (to the masses) quipped in awe, “The boy is simply madness”. That prospect was Mario Gomez, now a superstar in his own right.

The kid’s got ball skills, to say the very least. Dribbling is at the top of his attributes chart, and his composure with the ball for someone who may or may not be able to shave yet is pretty phenomenal. I’m not sure I can accurately do him justice in words. Just watch the videos, which were done when he was 11 at the oldest. Serbia fans have every reason to look forward in glee towards the future. Schalke fans can feel free to bite their fingernails: his contract is up in 2009. Methinks there will be a team or two after his signature. What a talent.

* - Pay special attention to the end of the first video, where he catches that lollipop from deep on his foot.

** - German tabloid machine Bild has it Alex Ferguson saw at least one of these videos and thought it was a joke, then tried to sign him before he agreed with Schalke.