[Player Profile] Richairo Zivkovic – The Football Manager Wonderkid

When I first heard rumours that we had signed Bailey Wright, I went “wow” out loud, because you never really think that someone playing at Sunderland and who I had “managed” before in a computer game (Football Manager) would be coming to the sunny shores of Singapore to play for our Lion City Sailors. You’d think I’d be used to it by now considering we have picked up players of the calibre of Diego Lopes and Maxime Lestienne – but I still am not used to it.

Now, when I then heard rumours that we had signed Richairo Zivkovic, I swear my heart may have skipped a beat. The Richairo Zivkovic? This is someone I used in Football Manager and who delivered me goals after goals, trophies after trophies. I promise I will start with the actual analysis soon, but for now please kindly allow me to relive my (slightly) younger days. Let’s take a trip down Football Manager 2015 Lane.

This is Richairo when he was 17 at Ajax and tipped to be the next big thing.

And this is Richairo after 9 years, as of 11 July 2023 in the game. You can see he pretty much becomes a superstar – and is at Manchester United. He also has 33 goals in 60 caps for the Netherlands national team. I think it’s safe to say that Football Manager got this one badly wrong.

Pedigree

Immediately, when there is a new foreign signing, the first thing we look out for is always which league he is signed from, and if he was a regular starter. In this aspect, it’s a tick, and a tick, for Richairo. In the Eredivisie, he played 32 out of 34 games, starting in 29 of those 32 games. The fact that we’re signing anyone from an Eredivisie team should already impress, but to get someone who is a regular starter? Even more insane. He only scored 5 goals in the regular season, which is not a great return for a forward by any means. But I’ll address this later.

For now, let’s talk about the other clubs he’s turned out. He has played in the English Premier League with Sheffield United (handful of games), in the Belgian First Division for KV Oostende, in the Eerste Divisie (Dutch 2nd Division) with Jong Ajax (Ajax youth team), in the Chinese leagues (with Changchun Yatai), and had an injury-ridden spell with Red Star Belgrade in the Serbian Super League. In the Eredivisie, he has made more than 100 appearances with various clubs. I don’t think there’s any doubt that Richairo has sufficient pedigree to be a very good player in the SPL.

Goalscoring Record

Some people have pointed out that his goalscoring record is nothing that remarkable, and assists-wise, he has never had a season where he registered more than 3 assists. He has only hit double digits for goals thrice in his career. Once way back when he was the next big thing 10 years ago with Groningen, once with Jong Ajax in the 2nd division of Dutch football, and once with Changchun Yatai in the 2nd division of Chinese football.

Two things to say about that. First, let’s be real. If we are getting someone who’s 26 years old and is a regular starter in the Eredivisie, if his goalscoring record was into double digits every season, he would not be playing in the Singapore Premier League. That has to be said.

Second – we’ve seen example after example of players who have come here without remarkable goalscoring records in stronger leagues, but have become real goalscoring threats here due to the gulf in quality between the leagues. Let’s take for example, Ken Ilso, one of my favourites from our Home United days. Ken Ilso scored 2 goals in 27 Bundesliga appearances for Fortuna Dusseldorf.

When he came to Singapore and played for Home United, he was often the classiest player on the pitch, and he would eventually rack up 36 goals and 12 assists in 54 appearances.

For more recent examples, how about our beloved Maxime who is currently tearing it up? I take a look at his goalscoring stats prior to coming to the SPL, and compare it with AFTER he joined the SPL. I also did the same for a few other notable names, and you can then take a look and see for yourself how past goalscoring records in tougher leagues don’t really have any bearing on how the striker performs in the SPL.

There’s all sorts of reasons for why these players’ stats improved dramatically and it may not just be the quality of the league (though I suspect it’s a huge part of it). In SPL teams, sometimes they are given a much more focal role, and that leads to a much higher goals per game ratio. Anyway whatever it is, let’s let Richairo do his thing, and then we will judge. Hopefully no 007 memes!

As an aside, check out this goal he scored last month – (watch from 1:40 if the link doesn’t automatically bring you there)

Attitude

Some fans have questioned his attitude and perhaps believe that his career trajectory suggests that him failing to live up to his promise is because of his bad attitude. I think there is very little evidence in recent years of this – although he did have a few incidents while at Ajax as a youngster where he showed a bit too much fire on the pitch and also came late for training on multiple occasions. Hilariously enough, the latecoming incidents pissed off Frank de Boer so much that he punished Richairo by making him do parking attendant duties.

But – we have all been young once. I believe that unless we see such bad attitude follow him into the Sailors set-up, we should be giving him the benefit of the doubt. It is a short-term deal (1 year contract), and I think at the age of 26, Richairo might see this Sailors stint as a possible route to some of the bigger Asian clubs. This is not an insult to us – it is simply reality. If he can get a bucketload of goals for us while advancing his career, it is definitely a win-win situation.

Conclusion

A lot has been said in this article, but I guess we will see very soon. I cannot wait, and I think this is a feeling shared by most Sailors fans. He is pacey, has excellent close control, and a thunderous shot, what more can we ask for? Let’s get it Richairo.

Written by Eddy Hirono

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