AEK coach Marko Nikolić gave an extensive interview to the podcast “Super Indirektno,” discussing Partizan, Red Star, and the player he would choose to bring to AEK.

The Serbian coach revealed that, if he could choose one Partizan player for AEK, it would be Koizek, emphasizing that he is a young forward with significant potential for growth.

At the same time, he mentioned Kevin Ariaga, whom he described as an interesting prospect, explaining that the financial aspect of his transfer was particularly important given Partizan’s circumstances.

Nikolić also highlighted Partizan’s difficult challenge in competing with Red Star for the title.

Here is what he said in detail:

On which player he would sign from Partizan for AEK:

“I’d sign Koizek—that’s my immediate answer. I like his profile—he’s young, an attacker, has an excellent physique, scores from various situations—with his head, with his foot, from crosses, by attacking the space… I think there’s still a lot of room to work with him. He’s a young soccer player, and I see tremendous potential in him, though there are other interesting players there as well.”

His comments on Kevin Ariaga:

“Ariaga is an interesting case. I had noticed this while he was still playing for Partizan. I think he made a very good impression. I’d spoken with everyone at the club about him, and he’d made a good impression, but he was expensive. I won’t mention the amount—it wasn’t a spectacular sum by mid-tier European standards—but it was a lot of money for Partizan. The club made a smart move in this case, because it also generated a specific amount of money.”

On how he views both Partizan and Red Star today:

“Partizan isn’t in the best possible shape right now; we can’t say that. There’s the standings, which are what they are, but let’s not jump to conclusions in September. It seems quite clear that the title race with Red Star is extremely difficult, since right now, unfortunately, they’re so dominant that it’s not even good for Red Star itself to be that dominant… I saw that they asked the Red Star coach how he can shift from third gear to fifth when third gear is enough for this league. I think that’s a good question, and that this isn’t good for Red Star.”

On Saša Ilić and the Partizan management:

“We have to support him; we have to support Sasa Ilic, just as we do all of them. Now is the time to stand by them. It’s a little difficult for me to comment on anything regarding Partizan, because everything can be interpreted one way or another. Especially now that we have two people at the club—I mean the general manager and the head of the coaching staff—who were my players during several different seasons. This means that I’m biased when it comes to them and that, beyond the fact that I love them—and I love them both—in a way, without a doubt, I support and respect them. That is one part of the story.

The second is that a person should be objective when talking about Partizan. Without wanting to defend or attack anyone—and especially not to attack, because that’s easy —these days it’s easy to attack—I believe that Partizan has done quite a few good things recently, as strange as that may sound, when it comes to the club’s management.”

On Partizan’s fans and the mistakes of the past:

“Partizan’s fans are incredibly important. We had a similar situation at Red Star more than ten years ago, when the results weren’t there, but the stadium was packed. Now we’re getting results, but the stadium isn’t full. For me, Partizan’s greatest victory is precisely a full stadium, which supports the team.

Amid all this criticism—some of which is justified, especially regarding our performances in the domestic league— this summer Partizan won five of its six games in the European qualifiers, while last summer it had won four out of six. That’s nine wins in twelve games, and, due to a series of unbelievable coincidences, they failed to reach the group stage. This really is a story for Ripley’s, for “Believe It or Not.”

For starters, to be drawn against a team from La Liga out of all the possible opponents in the Conference League. Last year, playing a man down against Hibernian, the penalty shootout against AEK Larnaca…

It’s a sequence of circumstances like that, and, of course, as is always the case in sports, we’re probably “paying the price” for something today. I have my own theory about what we’re paying for and that we have to pay it. Perhaps some poor performance, some bad decisions in the past, and, of course, now the time has come to pay the price. That’s how it goes in sports and in life.”

*photo source: AP