Andrija Bulatovic, Lens’s Montenegrin find with quasi military rigour and playground joy | OneFootball

Arriving last winter from Montenegro, 19-year-old midfielder Andrija Bulatovic has adapted quickly at RC Lens. With Mamadou Sangaré away at the Africa Cup of Nations with Mali, he now has a platform to extend his breakthrough.

Anto Drobnjak, the club’s first Montenegrin, hit 14 goals in the 1998 title season, and the link continues through Bulatovic, also from Bijelo Polje. According to L'Équipe, Drobnjak helped steer a €1.7m move from Buducnost Podgorica, and Bulatovic said he wanted to follow that tradition, hoping to achieve something with Lens even if he might not score as freely.

Left on loan in Podgorica until June, he helped Buducnost win the league, then scored on his senior Montenegro debut against Armenia. A strong pre-season under Pierre Sage preceded his first start at Nantes on 6 December, when the coach praised his versatility, understanding of the game and above-average technique in the absence of captain Adrien Thomasson.

From Kolasin, he could have pursued skiing, but early videos juggling in the family garden hinted at a different path. Son of former top-flight player Oleg and younger brother of Uros, he moved to the capital at 10 to chase football and later said he felt compelled to repay his parents.

Florian Thauvin has called him hard-working, humble and attentive, noting that producing the same level in matches shows something more. Admiring Lazio’s Adam Marusic, Bulatovic’s discipline, lauded in Podgorica, is now evident at Lens.

He supplied a corner for Samson Baidoo against Lorient, then scored his first goal, a right-footed curler from a tight angle, versus Feignies-Aulnoye in the Coupe de France round of 64, the club’s first direct free-kick in over two years. With six Ligue 1 appearances so far, and Sangaré into the AFCON last 16, Bulatovic has room to prove he is more than a joker.

Source: L'Équipe