With a disappointing 17th place in the EuroLeague standings and post-season hopes long since vanished, the atmosphere at Partizan Belgrade is somber.
Breaking the silence in a brutally honest interview with Meridian Sport was President Ostoja Mijailovic. His words spared no one, ranging from transfer market choices to the financial management of the roster.
The most sensitive topic addressed by the president concerned Jabari Parker. Mijailovic revealed shocking financial details regarding the player’s loan to Joventut Badalona, admitting that the operation proved to be a total failure from every perspective.
“It’s no secret: we are paying Parker €300,000 a month,” Mijailovic revealed. “We wanted to get rid of at least part of that contract and allow him to play elsewhere to find him a placement for next season, given that we still owe him €2.5 million net for next year. We only managed to extract $230,000 from Joventut.”
The president did not mince words when describing the deal: “It’s an absurd amount of money. I have nothing against Parker—he’s a great guy who simply didn’t fit in—but he was a colossal mistake by our staff. I regret that we, as a board, agreed to sign that deal.”
Mijailovic’s overall assessment was merciless. In addition to Parker, the president cited the case of Milton, highlighting how the club’s heaviest investments turned out to be the most unproductive.
“Unfortunately, we paid €5 million for two players who made our team worse,” he candidly admitted. While he spoke kindly of Milton’s character (“a fantastic guy, but he didn’t settle in and was unlucky with injuries”), the weight of a budget burned without on-court results remains.
Mijailovic confirmed that as long as he remains at the helm of the club, Partizan will never pay a single player a salary exceeding €1.5 million net. The only exception to this new, rigid rule involves an unnamed domestic (Serbian) player, who would represent the only permissible deviation.
“I proposed, and the Executive Board accepted, that we no longer pay for contracts larger than €1.5 million net! As long as I am president and economic circumstances remain like this, it will never happen again!”
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