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The Springvale White Eagles have completed their transfer activity for the summer with the additions of four new players including one-time Bosnia and Herzegovina international Nebojsa Pejic.
Born in the Bosnian city of Zenica, the central midfielder is a product of the OFK Belgrade youth academy where he featured alongside the likes of Branislav Ivanovic and Aleksandar Kolarov.
A desire to seek first-team opportunities saw him make the move to second tier side BSK Borca, helping them secure promotion to the top-flight in a team which also included current Atletico Madrid and Montenegro international defender Stefan Savic.
Capped at Under 17 and Under 20 level by his birth country, Pejic earned full international honours by appearing for the Zmajevi in a friendly match against Poland in December having been given a call-up to the national team by then-manager Safet Susic.
He returned home in 2012 by joining Kozara Gradiska in the Bosnian top-flight before embarking on his first spell with fellow top tier outfit Rudar Prijedor.
Impressive performances saw him earn a transfer to home-town club Celik Zenica ahead of the 2014/15 season with the Black and Reds being one of Bosnia’s best supported and biggest clubs.
The 29-year-old returned to Rudar last campaign where he was a first-team regular and has now chosen to continue his playing career down under with Vlado Tortevski’s outfit.
He is joined at the club by 21 year-old twin brother pairing Jake and Luke Parisi who having previously featured for the Hume City 20s and prefer to play at right-back and on the wing respectively.
The final signing for the club is 19 year-old winger Tapiwanashe Munyanyiwa who moves to White Eagles Stadium after making his senior debut with Sunshine George Cross last year.
Of Zimbabwean descent, Munyanyiwa was a key player for the Bentleigh Greens 20s side during their Championship success of 2015 before moving to Chaplin Reserve mid-term last year.
The four new faces join Cody Martindale (Northcote City), Slavisa Saric (Doveton) and Delfin Mosibe (Hume United) as recent arrivals to the White Eagles who have not retained English visa players John Pykett and Dan Westmore from last season with Mosibe and Pejic the club’s two visa players.
Springvale open their season with a long away trip to Shepparton to take on the Goulburn Valley Suns this Saturday evening at 7pm at McEwen Reserve.