Newcastle United sign Serbian Defender Miodrag Pivaš

Newcastle United have announced the acquisition of Serbian defender Miodrag Pivaš from FK Jedinstvo Ub.

The 19-year-old, who has previously played for Serbia’s under-17 team, joins the Magpies following a successful promotion campaign with Jedinstvo Ub.

Pivaš, who hails from Novi Sad, featured prominently in Jedinstvo's recent season, helping the club secure promotion to the Serbian Super Liga. His previous experience includes stints with Austrian teams UFC Siezenheim and SV Grödig before returning to Serbia last year.

“It’s absolutely unbelievable to join such a big club like Newcastle United and I cannot wait to get started. I see the project of the club and it looks great which helped convince me to sign for Newcastle,” said Pivaš to Newcastle United official site. 

“I see the young players have developed very well here and I would like to do the same - to develop and get into Newcastle's first team. I’m very excited and I can’t wait to begin.”

Pivaš also reached the semi-finals of the European Under-17 Championship with Serbia in 2022.

“My best strengths are my pace, being a centre-back, as well as my heading and passing ability. I want to start playing for the first-team as soon as possible and show what I can do. I’ve watched a lot of Newcastle's games, they are playing very well and I believe I can play at that level,” Pivaš said.

“I won promotion last season and it was amazing, getting to the top tier in Serbia. It was an incredible feeling and I learnt a lot playing as a centre-back because of my manager (Ivan Radovanović), who played in Serie A for 15 years and was quite important to me."

The young defender is keen to follow in the footsteps of fellow Serbian Aleksandar Mitrović, who scored 17 competitive goals for United during a three-year spell at St. James’ Park.

“Mitrović is a legend for the people of Serbia and I have watched a lot of his games growing up,” Pivaš said.

"He’s still playing very well and I want to try and follow in the steps of the likes of Mitrović as well as Nemanja Vidić and (Branislav) Ivanović who have won the Premier League. I think I can be like that."

“I know Newcastle finished seventh last season, just missing out on European football which was sad, but I hope we can qualify for European competition next season. I have also watched the Newcastle fans on TV and they are absolutely amazing. I am looking forward to playing in front of them,” Pivaš added.