Stefan Savic believes his move to Manchester City in 2011 came at a time when he "may not have been ready" for the challenge of playing in the Premier League.
Savic, whose current side Atletico Madrid are preparing for a Champions League clash with Manchester United on Wednesday night, moved to the Etihad Stadium more than a decade ago after impressing with Partizan Belgrade.
But the 31-year-old — who is now a regular under Diego Simeone at Atletico — believes that moving to City came at the wrong time in his career and that it "was a very big jump" from Serbian football to the Premier League.
Speaking ahead of his Champions League clash with United, Savic was quizzed by Spanish newspaper AS about his time on the blue side of the city.
“It was very important for me, because I came directly from the Serbian league and it was a big step in my career. Looking back, I may not have been ready for the Premier League at the time, it was a very big jump,” Savić said (via Sporting Witness ).
“But it was a very good experience, I played just over 20 games and it helped me gain experience, grow as a footballer and as a man.”
“At that time, I didn’t see myself ready to play there and I decided to go to Italy. I grew a lot for three years and it helped me to sign for Atlético.”
Savic, 31, was part of City's Premier League winning squad in 2011-21, but overall his time in Manchester barely set off any fireworks as he made just 20 appearances for City, including only 11 top-flight starts.
His lowly ranking in the champions' defensive pecking order resulted in a summer deadline day transfer to Italian side Fiorentina, a move which helped catapult the defender's career and ultimately resulted in his move to Atletico.
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