Why Vanja Dragojevic’s Rangers Struggles Are Costing Him with Serbia

Serbian midfielder Vanja Dragojevic will be quite unhappy with his situation; the player, who has not made regular appearances for Rangers this season, was handed another blow as Serbia National Football Team manager Veljko Paunovic was left on the bench in the Eagles’ latest international clash against Greece in the UEFA Nations League Group A. The match was lost by Serbia 2-1; however, Dragojevic did not get a chance to prove his worth.

The defensive midfielder who arrived at Ibrox during this season’s summer transfer window from Partizan Belgrade for a deal worth an amount exceeding £4 million has also not been regularly used by Derek McInnes, and as reported by media outlet Ibrox News, this can be the primary reason behind Paunovic not placing his trust in the 20-year-old. It is also being suggested that the youngster is blaming his club manager for his exclusion from the national team set-up.

However, as observed by Ibrox News, the player is also to blame for his situation. It is to be kept in mind that Dragojevic is currently behind Nicolas Raskin, Dan Neil and Cammy Devlin in the pecking order to be the starting midfielder for Rangers. It is also to be noted that he has only played twice previously for Serbia, and both of those appearances came in friendlies.

In addition to his unimpressive international career, the 20-year-old has also not impressed fans with his performances in the limited game time that he has been allotted. Dragojevic could not perform well even against Jablonec during their UEFA Europa Conference League clashes, and this was statistically the worst opponent faced by Rangers. The fact that Dragojevic could not step up during these fixtures is testament to the fact that the player will have to work on himself before he expects to get regular playing time for his club, or be considered to enter the pitch by his national team.

Ibrox News, about the midfielder’s performances in the games against Jablonec, wrote, “Per FotMob data from that contest, he completed just 68.2 per cent of his passes, with 33.3 per cent of his long passes being successful.

The defensive midfielder won just 28.6 per cent of his duels, and made just 0.70 tackles against the Czech opposition.”

These statistics are a testament to the fact that Vanja Dragojevic has not been up to his best, and if he wishes to play regularly, the player will have to work on his performance intensely and make himself unavoidable in the eyes of his managers.