Matija Sarkic (Serbian: Матија Шаркић, romanized: Matija Šarkić; born 23 July 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Montenegro national team.
![]() Sarkic with Birmingham City in 2021 | |||
Personal information | |||
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Full name | Matija Sarkic[1] | ||
Date of birth | (1997-07-23) 23 July 1997 (age 25)[2] | ||
Place of birth | Grimsby, England | ||
Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.94 m)[3] | ||
Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
Club information | |||
Current team | Wolverhampton Wanderers | ||
Number | 13 | ||
Youth career | |||
0000–2015 | Anderlecht | ||
2015–2017 | Aston Villa | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2017–2020 | Aston Villa | 0 | (0) |
2017–2018 | → Wigan Athletic (loan) | 0 | (0) |
2018–2019 | → Stratford Town (loan) | 6 | (0) |
2019 | → Havant & Waterlooville (loan) | 1 | (0) |
2019–2020 | → Livingston (loan) | 14 | (0) |
2020– | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 0 | (0) |
2020–2021 | → Shrewsbury Town (loan) | 26 | (0) |
2021–2022 | → Birmingham City (loan) | 23 | (0) |
National team‡ | |||
2013 | Montenegro U17 | 3 | (0) |
2014–2016 | Montenegro U19 | 12 | (0) |
2015–2018 | Montenegro U21 | 6 | (0) |
2019– | Montenegro | 5 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 08:02, 24 August 2022 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 08:53, 9 May 2022 (UTC) |
Sarkic came through the academy of Anderlecht before signing with Aston Villa in 2015. He spent time on loan at Wigan Athletic, for whom he made his Football League debut, non-league clubs Stratford Town and Havant & Waterlooville, and Livingston of the Scottish Premiership, before moving on to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2020. He then joined Shrewsbury Town and Birmingham City on loan. His loan spell with Birmingham City was cut short due to injury in January 2022.
He was born in England to a Montenegrin father and English mother, and represented Montenegro at youth level before making his debut for the senior national team in November 2019.
Sarkic graduated from the youth academy of Belgian club Anderlecht before signing a three-year contract with English club Aston Villa on 1 September 2015.[4] He was the goalkeeper for Villa's under-21 team who reached the Division Two play-off final in the 2015–16 season. In April 2017, he was named on the bench for a league match against Reading as cover for Sam Johnstone following an injury to Mark Bunn.[5]
Sarkic joined Wigan Athletic on 31 August 2017 on a season-long loan.[6] In December 2018, he joined Stratford Town on a youth loan.[7]
On 26 June 2019, Sarkic signed for Scottish Premiership club Livingston on what was intended to be a season-long loan,[8] but he was recalled by Aston Villa on 3 January 2020, as their first-choice goalkeeper Tom Heaton had suffered a knee injury.[9]
Sarkic was released by Aston Villa at the end of the 2019–20 season.[10]
Sarkic signed for Villa's Premier League rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers on 27 July 2020 on a three-year contract.[11]
On 2 September 2020, Sarkic joined League One club Shrewsbury Town on a season-long loan.[12] He made his debut on 12 September, starting in a goalless draw away at Portsmouth.[13]
Sarkic joined Championship club Birmingham City on 26 July 2021 on loan for the season.[14] With previous first-choice goalkeeper Neil Etheridge still recovering from COVID-19, Sarkic started the opening-day fixture away to Sheffield United and kept a clean sheet as Birmingham won 1–0.[15] He retained his place in the starting eleven even after Etheridge's return to fitness, kept ten clean sheets, and missed only one of Birmingham's 24 league matches. Near the end of what proved to be his last appearance, on 2 January 2022, he dislocated a shoulder throwing the ball out to a defender. The injury required surgery which would keep him out for the rest of the season, and he returned to his parent club for treatment and rehabilitation.[16][17] Despite only being at the club for the first half of the season, he was voted Birmingham City's Player of the Season for 2021–22.[18]
Although Wolverhampton Wanderers' goalkeeping coach, Tony Roberts, thought Sarkic's progress would be better served by playing regularly on another loan,[19] he signed a new three-year contract, and technical director Scott Sellars said that he would remain at the club as backup and competition for José Sá.[20] He made his first-team debut on 23 August 2022, in the EFL Cup second-round 2–1 win against Preston North End.[21]
Sarkic represented Montenegro U17 at the 2013 UEFA European Under-17 Championship.[4] He won the bronze medal at the 2017 Valeri Lobanovsky Memorial Tournament.[22][23] On 19 November 2019, he made his debut for the Montenegrin senior team under coach Faruk Hadžibegić in a 2–0 friendly win against Belarus.[24] Sarkic made his first competitive appearance for his country in a 2022 World Cup qualifier away to the Netherlands, who won 4–0.[25][26]
Sarkic was born in England, in Grimsby, Lincolnshire.[25] His father, Bojan Šarkić, is a Montenegrin diplomat who, as of October 2017, was the country's ambassador to the European Union. He previously served as ambassador to the United Kingdom and to Belgium. His mother, Natalie Šarkić-Todd, works at a European media network. Matija has a twin brother Oliver Sarkic with whom he played during his spell at Anderlecht.[27]
Club | Season | League | National Cup[lower-alpha 1] | League Cup[lower-alpha 2] | Other | Total | ||||||
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Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Aston Villa | 2017–18[28] | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2018–19[29] | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
2019–20[30] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Wigan Athletic (loan) | 2017–18[28] | League One | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[lower-alpha 3] | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Stratford Town (loan) | 2018–19[31][32] | Southern League Premier Division Central | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1[lower-alpha 4] | 0 | 7 | 0 | |
Havant & Waterlooville (loan) | 2018–19[31] | National League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
Livingston (loan) | 2019–20[30] | Scottish Premiership | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers | 2020–21[33] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |
2021–22[34] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
2022–23[35] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | ||
Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
Shrewsbury Town (loan) | 2020–21[33] | League One | 26 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[lower-alpha 3] | 0 | 29 | 0 |
Birmingham City (loan) | 2021–22[34] | Championship | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 23 | 0 | |
Career total | 70 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 83 | 0 |
National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
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Montenegro | 2019 | 1 | 0 |
2020 | 0 | 0 | |
2021 | 4 | 0 | |
Total | 5 | 0 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. – current squad | |
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Birmingham City F.C. Player of the Year | |
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