Aberdeen defender Slobodan Rubezic has spoken out about his want to leave Pittodrie to return to FK Novi Pazar in Serbia.
He, like many other Aberdeen stars, started the season in great form and he was statistically one of the best defenders in the Premiership.
But since Aberdeen’s extreme downturn in results from November, the Montenegrin has endured difficult times both on and off the pitch.
Rubezic was sent off against Motherwell in January for a moment of madness before making costly mistakes in the first-half of Aberdeen’s 3-0 defeat to St Mirren.
Rubezic asked to be substituted during that game and did not appear for the second-half.
It’s since come to light that Rubezic has been struggling with personal issues off the field and it’s why he wanted to return to Serbia, the country where he was born.
Rubezic’s first words since leaving Aberdeen
He’s already played for FK Novi Pazar on two separate occasions so his surroundings from now until the end of the campaign will be familiar.
Rubezic has now provided his first interview since leaving Aberdeen on loan and made it clear that he did not want to go into specifics, but stressed the most important thing was being closer to his family at this time.
He told RTVNP: “There are enough circumstances that I don’t want to talk about publicly. I am grateful to those people for coming to my aid and allowing me to return here, where I feel the best.
“Many people find my decision strange. Some interpret it this way, some that way. For me, the most important thing right now is to be here. I am close to my family, I am at home.
“I want to play and get the best possible result by the summer and I am not interested in the rest. I don’t want to waste time on why and how. It is best this way.
“I enjoyed it (spells with FK Novi Pazar) the most and had one of the best periods of my life.
“I wouldn’t talk about some things, the most important thing for me is that I came back here. Let’s get to work. I hope everything will be fine and that we will achieve the greatest possible success”.
Jimmy Thelin on Rubezic’s loan exit
Jimmy Thelin, like Rubezic, does not want to go into too much detail about the defender’s loan switch to Serbia.
But he did reiterate that Rubezic moving back home closer to his family was the best thing for him at his juncture of the season.
Thelin said: “Yeah, that’s why I said before, I don’t want to talk about it too much, but it’s good sometimes for a player to be closer to home and also still playing football. Yes, but he’s human.
“Everybody knows he’s not a robot, but you always try to find the best way for everyone and it’s different reasons sometimes, but this way was a good match with game time and closer to the family. So he can find regular game time, but also have this closer to the family.”
“Yes, he’s still an Aberdeen player”, Thelin said after being quizzed on where Rubezic will be next season after his loan deal ends.
“Yeah, I hope so and that’s why you have to try to make good decisions every time. If you believe in something, and that’s the best decision for an Aberdeen football club and individual player I think we have found a good way in this moment to come to this decision.”