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Manchester United didn't exactly rush into the foreign transfer market
when English League clubs started to look abroad for reinforcements.
Players like Ossie Ardiles and Ricardo Villa were well established at
Tottenham before Manager Dave Sexton started to negotiate with Red Star
Belgrade for Nikola Jovanovic, a centre-back who had scored an
impressive 50 goals in 359 games. The popular Yugoslavian international
joined United in January 1980 for £300, 000, a record for a Yugoslav
club. He desperately wanted to play for Manchester United, a club he
described as the best in Europe and even turned down better terms from
Bayern Munich in order to fulfil his ambition of playing at Old
Trafford. Jovanovic's main quality was his technical ability and his
intelligence, but he also possessed excellent concentration, calmness,
persistence and an ability to create chaos in opposing defences with
runs towards goal, perhaps recalling his early days as an attacker.
Nikki became the first foreign player to play for the Red Devils when
making his debut on 2nd February 1980 against Derby County, as a
replacement for Ray Wilkins, who missed the game through injury. He
couldn't have joined the club at a more exciting time as United
thrillingly closed the gap on league leaders Liverpool and, although the
league title was ultimately missed by a whisker, everyone was left with
great hopes for the future. The first month of the 1980/1981 campaign
saw Sexton, in the absence of Gordon McQueen, give Nikki his first
league outing in front of his own fans. The big Yugoslav celebrated the
occasion by scoring the Reds' first goal since the opening day of the
season. It came in the 59th minute and looked sufficient to win the
points until six minutes from time when Alan Brown equalised for the
Wearsiders.
A major highlight of Jovanovic's season was his role in an
emphatic victory over Leicester City. First half goals from Steve
Coppell and Ashley Grimes put the Reds firmly in the driving seat, but
after the interval the goals flowed at an even swifter rate. A United
corner saw Nikki beat the Leicester keeper Mark Wallington to head the
ball down and into the net for the Reds' third goal. Jovanovic then
scored a second with Lou Macari adding another goal in an emphatic 5-0
win. In a blistering end to their league campaign, United won their last
seven league games in a row, but could still only finish eighth in the
table - a position which the club's board could not tolerate. Sexton was
sacked after four seasons at the helm and replaced by the flamboyant
Ron Atkinson. Hampered by a severe back injury, Jovanovic was unable to
make any impact under 'Big Ron' and failed to add to his 21 league
appearances and four goals for the Red Devils. He had a loan spell at FC
Buducnoet from December '81-July '82 and left Old Trafford for good in
November 1982 when his contract was cancelled. Nikki won 7 caps for his
country and played in all three games at the 1982 World Cup. (Rob Hill)
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