Chelsea Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of midfielder Nemanja Matic on a four-year contract.
The 21-year-old joins us from Slovak side MFK Kosice and is highly
regarded around Europe as a talent to look out for in the future.
Matic already has two full Serbia caps, playing alongside Branislav
Ivanovic, and was at the Under 21 European Championships in Sweden this
summer, although a broken metatarsal ended his tournament in the first
game against Italy.
That injury means he will be ruled out for a number of weeks yet,
although he is recovering well, and he is delighted to be a Chelsea
player.
'I know a lot about Chelsea, I have been following them,' he said.
'I play together with Branislav in the national team and have spoken
to him about Chelsea. The first time when I met him to play in the
national team I asked a couple of questions,' Matic added.
He may be a relative unknown to Blues fans, so chelseafc.com asked the player to say a few words about himself.
'I am a solid midfield player, I have a lot to offer and for sure to
progress and I will show everyone why I am at Chelsea,' he began.
'I am a central-midfielder, and I know I am not well known but I
have physical power and I am quite a technical, left-footed player.
'Since the age of 18 I have been at Kosice, and before that I had played in the youth team of Red Star Belgrade.'
Matic, who is 6ft 4ins tall and also holds a Slovak passport, has
been heavily trailed by other Premier League clubs, and actually spent
some time on trial at Middlesbrough in January.
'I was there in the winter, when I came it was winter in the north
of England so it was not very nice, but the squad was okay and I liked
it,' he said.
Hopefully London will be a more hospitable destination, and while
Matic does not yet speak English, having Ivanovic alongside, as well as
other eastern European influences Andriy Shevchenko and Yuri Zhirkov,
he is sure to settle quickly.