Nenad Krsticic

Nenad Krsticic (born 3 July 1990) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serbian club Red Star Belgrade. He debuted for the Serbia national team in 2013.

Club Career

Early career and cancer diagnosis

Krsticic began his career at OFK Beograd and joined Sampdoria on 1 September 2008 at the insisting of Giuseppe Marotta, who believed the 17-year-old was one of the most talented players he had ever brought to the club. While playing for the youth team, he played in the 2011 Torneo di Viareggio as one of the allowed over-age players. He suffered a knee injury and had surgery performed to correct his meniscus injury, after which doctors unexpectedly diagnosed him with Burkitt's lymphoma and allegedly told Krsticic he had 48 hours to live. Luckily, Sampdoria's medical staff was able to reverse the cancer growth and Krsticic lived on to play football, although the condition was a great setback in his career. Over the course of his cancer episode, Krsticic lost 55 pounds and his blood was compromised. Krsticic finally made his debut for Sampdoria in a UEFA Europa League match against Debrecen on 16 December 2010. On 2 December 2012, he scored his first goal for Sampdoria against Fiorentina.

On 2 February 2015, Krsticic was signed by Bologna in a temporary deal. The club also signed Junior Costa and Daniele Gastaldello from the Genoese club outright. However, Krsticic was injured in March. His contract with Sampdoria was terminated on 18 July 2016.

Alaves

On 25 July 2016, Krsticic signed for La Liga side Alaves on a free transfer. Fellow countryman Aleksandar Katai, who also suffered from a serious illness earlier in his career, joined Alaves later the same summer, and the two became midfield teammates.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Ненад Крстичич (russian)