Darko Kovačević

Source Lazio Wiki

Darko Kovačević was born in Kovin in Serbia on November 18, 1973. He started his professional career with Proleter Zrenjanin in the Jugoslav Top tier where in two years he made 63 appearances with 25 goals.

He then signed for Red Star and continued to be lethal scoring 37 goals in 49 games. He won a Yugoslav league title and two national cups.

In 1995 he joined Sheffield Wednesday but had a number of problems adapting to the British way of life and after a year he left for Real Sociedad. In Spain he made 110 appearances with 53 goals attracting the attention of the big Serie A clubs. He joined Juventus in 1999 and in his first year played and scored considerably (20 goals in 44 games), but in his second he found less space due to the arrival of David Trezeguet. In July 2001 he joined Lazio in the deal that saw Marcelo Salas go to Turin. With the Biancocelesti he was pretty dismal and stayed just six months before returning to Real Sociedad. Back in familiar territory, he returned to form and in five years made 163 league appearances with 50 goals. His last two years of activity were with Olympiacos where from 2007 he scored 31 goals in 60 appearances.

He has 59 caps with the Yugoslav first and Serbia national teams with 10 goals. He participated in the 1998 World Cup and 2000 Euros.

After his retirement he stayed in football and became chief scout and sporting director at Olympiacos until 2018. He is currently sports director for the Serbian Football Association.

Kovačević was a big centre forward, very powerful and great goal scorer. At Lazio though he was a disappointment and stayed very briefly.

Lazio Career

Season	Total Appearances	Serie A	Coppa Italia	Champions League
2001-02	11	7	1	3

Sources

Wikipedia