Chelsea goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic appreciates his grounding inside Serbian football.
Signed from New England Revolution, Petrovic first played senior football with Cukaricki. He signed as a 14 year-old after trials before leaving for the US eight years later.
He told the club's website: "Before I started playing for Cukaricki I had one season on loan in the third league. For me, that period was the most important for me. You see and feel the big difference between youth football and senior football.
"Cukaricki had a plan to promote young players and give them a chance. I got that chance. When I started to play for them after my loan, they changed generation. We had maybe seven players under 21. We had played together at the academy. We had a good chemistry and a good spirit.
"The Serbian league was good for my development. Sometimes you didn't have the chance to show your quality, but you were always learning. You had to focus."
He continued: "My family and I had a picture I would go to a club close to home. So when I got the offer from New England, I was changing my mind every day. I would go. I would not go. I would go!
"But it was a good opportunity. I wanted to change something, to try something new. I heard good things about Boston, a nice city to live. And I saw [Matt] Turner, the former goalkeeper they sold to Arsenal. They sent me the offer after that.
"I saw they could sell a goalkeeper to Arsenal. It made me think I could do something similar and come back to Europe. But honestly, I never imagined Chelsea!"
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