Sporting Kansas City announced Tuesday that the club has acquired 25-year-old striker Nikola Vujnovic on loan from Serbian side FK Vozdovac with an option to buy the player at the end of the 2022 MLS season.
Vujnovic, one of the Serbian SuperLiga’s top scorers and a member of the Montenegro Men’s National Team, will occupy an international spot on Sporting’s roster pending receipt of his International Transfer Certificate and P1 visa.
Vujnovic will join Sporting on the heels of a career season at Vozdovac, where he has tallied 10 goals and an assist during the 2021-22 campaign in Serbia’s top division. The striker ranks fourth on the league’s goal scoring charts, hitting double digits with starts in 21 of 22 league appearances for a Vozdovac outfit that sits sixth in the 16-team SuperLiga.
A native of Cetinje, Montenegro, Vujnovic has bagged 16 goals and added three assists for Vozdovac over the last two seasons. He previously spent the 2019-20 campaign with FK Podgorica in the top-flight Montenegrin First League, where he notched seven goals and helped the team to a fifth-place finish after being promoted to the first division in 2018-2019.
Vujnovic began his professional career by signing for Serbian club Radnicki Obrenovac and making his Serbian SuperLiga debut on loan at FK Rad as a 17-year-old in November 2014. The rising teenager joined Spanish La Liga side Villarreal in early 2015 and featured regularly for Villarreal C from 2015-2018 and Villarreal B from 2018-2019, recording 12 goals in 64 appearances across both teams. He notably competed for Villarreal B in the 2018-2019 Premier League International Cup, scoring in a victory over the Liverpool Reserves on Nov. 21, 2018, prior to his move to Podgorica the following summer.
On the international stage, Vujnovic represented Montenegro at the U-17 through U-21 levels from 2013-2017 before landing his senior debut on Oct. 7, 2020, in a friendly against Latvia. Three of his five caps have come in recent qualifying matches for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, including a 2-2 draw against European heavyweights Netherlands on Nov. 13, 2021, in which Vujnovic opened his Montenegro scoring account with an 86th-minute equalizer.
Prior to breaking into Montenegro’s senior team, Vujnovic competed for Montenegro in UEFA European Championship qualifying at the U-17, U-19 and U-21 age groups, including a four-goal salvo in the lead-up to the 2015 UEFA European Under-19 Championship.
Vujnovic is the seventh newcomer to sign for Sporting this offseason, following fellow Europeans Logan Ndenbe, Marinos Tzionis and Robert Voloder as well as MLS free agents Kortne Ford, Uri Rosell and Ben Sweat.
Sporting will kick off the 2022 MLS campaign on Feb. 27, visiting Atlanta United FC in a 2 p.m. showdown on FS1, before playing host to rival Houston Dynamo FC in a highly anticipated Children’s Mercy Park home opener on March 5 at 2:30 p.m.
Sporting KC season tickets and several 2022 ticket packages and promotions and are available by calling 888-4KC-GOAL or visiting SportingKC.com.
Sporting KC waives two forwards
Sporting Kansas City announced Monday that the club has waived forwards Grayson Barber and Tyler Freeman.
Barber, 21, started two of nine appearances during his lone MLS season with Sporting in 2021. Freeman, 19, has played 35 USL Championship matches for Sporting KC II since signing an MLS contract in 2018.
With the roster move, Sporting Kansas City has these under MLS contract for the 2022 season:
Goalkeepers (3): Kendall McIntosh, Tim Melia, John Pulskamp
Defenders (9): Andreu Fontas, Kortne Ford, Nicolas Isimat-Mirin, Logan Ndenbe, Kayden Pierre, Kaveh Rad, Ben Sweat, Robert Voloder, Graham Zusi
Midfielders (8): Jake Davis, Cam Duke, Roger Espinoza, Felipe Hernandez, Gadi Kinda, Jose Mauri, Uri Rosell, Remi Walter
Forwards (6): Ozzie Cisneros, Alan Pulido, Johnny Russell, Daniel Salloi, Khiry Shelton, Marinos Tzionis
- Story from Sporting KC