Slobodan Rajkovic

Slobodan Rajkovic (Serbian Cyrillic: Слободан Рајковић, pronounced [slobodan raːjkoʋitɕ]; born 3 February 1989) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Hungarian club MTK Budapest.

Club Career

Born in Belgrade, Rajkovic started his career with OFK Beograd. He was included in the club's first team at the age of 15. During his second season in the first team, Rajkovic's reputation grew so such that in November 2005, English Premier League club Chelsea decided to pay €2 million for the 16-year-old centre-half.

Under the terms of the deal, Rajkovic stayed at OFK Beograd as a loaned player from Chelsea until the end of the 2006–07 Serbian SuperLiga season.

Loans in the Eredivisie

In June 2007, Chelsea decided to loan Rajkovic to PSV ahead of the 2007–08 season, as part of the deal surrounding Alex's move to Chelsea.

After the year-long loan spell at PSV, the Dutch club wanted to extend the loan period for another year, but Chelsea declined due to the lack of playing time Rajkovic was receiving in his season at Eindhoven. Rajkovic, however, returned to the Eredivisie on 9 July 2008, joining Twente on a one-year loan deal.

After spitting at a referee at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Rajkovic was banned for 12 months by FIFA. In June 2009, his loan was extended until June 2010.

On 23 August 2010, Rajkovic transferred to another Eredivisie club, Vitesse, together with his former Chelsea teammates Nemanja Matic and Matej Delac on a season-long loan.

Chelsea

Having returned to Chelsea prior to the 2011–12 season at the request of new manager Andre Villas-Boas, Rajkovic played his first game in a Chelsea shirt in a friendly against Wycombe Wanderers on 12 July 2011 at Chelsea's Cobham Training Centre.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Слободан Райкович (russian)