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Serbian soccer player Marko Grujic is quite skilful at just 19 years old and has been drawing attention to himself due to his fine play in his homeland. The midfielder currently plays for Serbian side Red Star Belgrade, but has been approached by several other European clubs what are interested in acquiring his services. However, his father believes that a move to a bigger team could do some serious harm to his promising career. Therefore, he has hidden his son’s passport to make sure he doesn’t leave Belgrade.

Grujic is one of Red Star’s top players even though he’s still a teenager. He’s an accomplished goalscorer and playmaker and is known for his excellent work ethic and defending. The youngster has found the back of the net five times in 19 league matches so far this season and has also set up his teammates for eight more goals. He entered this season with a lot of momentum and confidence after playing in the Serbian squad which won this year’s Under-20 World Cup.

One of the teams which has shown a lot of interest in Grujic is Liverpool of the English Premier League. The Reds have reportedly put in a bid of just over five million pounds for the player and Red Star has accepted. But for some strange reason soccer players’ contracts don’t go with them when they’re sold or traded and it means the player and club must first agree on a new contract before a move can be made. If Grujic and Liverpool can come to an agreement then the sale can be finalised.

Grujic’s father Goran doesn’t want to see this happen though and told the Blic newspaper in Serbia that his son’s career will be ruined if he moves to England. Goran believes Red Star agreed to sell his son since the club needs the money. He claimed that team officials are constantly phoning Marko to persuade him to sign a deal with the Merseyside club. Goran stated that Red Star is telling his son he can wear Steven Gerrard’s old number eight jersey and is trying to sell him on Reds’ manager Jurgen Klopp and the enormous amount of money that can be made in Liverpool.

Goran also remarked, “There is also pressure on him in the locker room, because it seems some players are convinced that the payments of their debts depend solely on Marko’s sale.” Goran went on to say that Red Star doesn’t really care what happens to Marko as long as they can get a decent amount of money for him. He defended his statement by saying that his son would suddenly go from one of Red Star’s best players to nothing but a benchwarmer in England. He’s also afraid that Marko could end up being loaned out and his career will stagnate.

Goran makes a lot of sense and added, “You see that none of our young players survived in England. Bojan Đorđić, Miloš Veljković, Adem Ljajić, Zoran Tošić, Lazar Marković, Danilo Pantić … Do you need me to continue listing them? No one has the opportunity to prove himself there.”

To make sure that Marko’s move is made as difficult as possible, Goran said he has taken his son’s passport and isn’t about to give it back to him unless he agrees with a move. However, the youngster may not need it for another six months or so anyway since Liverpool has reportedly agreed to a loan deal which would see Marko remain with Red Star until the summer. Red Star has admitted that it would like to keep Marko in their squad, but the club has been forced to sell him due to its current financial situation.