Focus. Humility. Direct. For someone who’s taken MLS my storm, Dejan Joveljić lets his actions speak louder than his words.
“There is nothing special to know about me,” he says flatly. “I'm just a simple guy who just wants to score and make the players around me better than myself. So, I just want to win and to have success.”
That’s Dejan.
Growing up between Bosnia and Serbia, Dejan first began his calling at six years old. While no one in his family played professionally, his family taught him the basics early on. From there, Dejan’s passion and determination got him to Red Star Belgrade.
That discipline still defines his every move. “I’m just trying to prepare myself and my body to be in the best position,” Dejan explains. “And I’m trying to predict where the ball will come. And then I try to be there. If I’m there, I am scoring. If I’m not, then I’m not scoring.”
It sounds simple. But it isn’t.
“I think he is so determined as a person and a player to be the best version of himself and to give the best quality he can game in and game out,” says interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin “I haven't seen his emotional level drop or go higher. Whether it's a training, whether it's a game, a card game, whether it's a, a 90-minute game and he's in front of goal. He conducts himself with such determination.”
That determination has brought him to where he is. With the LA Galaxy, Dejan scored 45 goals and 18 assists across four seasons and those statistics followed him to Sporting. With five goals and one assist in eleven regular-season games, there’s no telling where this striker can go.
Off the field, Dejan finds clarity in the calculated strategy of chess. It’s a quiet passion, sparked by his father and grandfather, but elevated during the height of COVID lockdowns.
“I knew how to play,” Dejan reflected. “My dad and my grandpa taught me how to play it. But [I began to play] seriously, during CORONA time, I was like playing every day, taking lessons with my friend who is the coach of the national team of Serbia.”
The hobby evolved from pastime to passion. Dejan now participates in tournaments during the offseason and ranks 2217 in the International Chess Federation. When asked if he’s one of the best chess players in MLS Dejan cheekily answered. “Not only for MLS players...for all other athletes probably.”
The cerebral side of chess complements his game, even if the Serbian striker doesn’t believe chess has made him a better soccer player. “Yes and no, but probably no,” Dejan laughed.
His innate ability to score and dedication are two characteristics that brought him to Kansas City. When Dejan was first being introduced to Kansas City, Sporting Director Mike Burns praised the 25-year-old for the type of person he is on and off the pitch.
"We feel that within the case of Dejan he's a proven goalscorer in this league,” Burns told media. “He's had individual success. He's had collective success with the Galaxy. Obviously won an MLS Cup last year. He's at a perfect age. He's a number nine. Goal scorers are hard to find. When we spoke with Dejan he was he was all in. He was super excited, wanted to come here. And so that sealed it."
But before playing for Kansas City, Dejan shared that Children’s Mercy Park was one of the worst places to play as an opposing team. In the several times he played against Sporting, he only left with a positive result once.
“Kansas City was one of the worst places to play for me,” Dejan laughed. “Because every time we came in the game in Kansas, we were losing, or we never won some points. Maybe it was 0-0 one time and always somehow, we were losing. So last time it was my first year that I won.”
But now being on the other side of it, Dejan has the full backing of the Blue Hell. When Sporting faced their cross-state rivals, Dejan celebrated his goal in the Cauldron, with the fans.
“It's always nice to win in derby games” Dejan told media. “And it means a lot for us as you could see on the field. We go forward. We are happy. We are more confident and hopefully we are going to win more points.”
Now on the right side of Children’s Mercy Park, with fans behind him and confidence rising, Dejan Joveljić is proving that sometimes, the most dangerous players are the ones who let their game do all the talking.