Serbia have high hopes for their own Teddy Sheringham

He may share a name with former Tottenham goalkeeper Milija Aleksic, but it's Spurs hero Teddy Sheringham with whom Serbian youngster Danijel Aleksic is more likely to be compared.

One of the most promising players to have emerged from Serbia in recent times, Aleksic is a deep lying forward who has also been known to drift out wide.

Much like the former Spurs, Manchester United and West Ham forward, he plays with a composed swagger, and combines great vision with impressive technique to devastating effect.

He may need to find a way of performing more consistently if he is to make it at the highest level, but the signs are that he could be a real star in the making.

Serie A side Genoa certainly saw the potential, taking the youngster to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris for an undisclosed fee last month, beating the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City to his signature.

FourFourTwo contributor Jonathan Wilson tells us more about the highly-regarded 18-year-oldâ¦

Teddy Sheringham - not Serbian...

Danijel Aleksic
Age 18
Position Second Striker
Nationality Serbian
Club Genoa
Games 48 Goals 8  (for previous club, FK Vojvodina)

For a couple of years Serbian pundits have been hailing Aleksic as one of the greatest prospects they have ever seen.

Tall and powerful, he is skilful and a fine finisher, but his technique and vision mean than he is probably better suited to a deeper-lying role than the out-and-out striker position he occupied during this summerâÂÂs European U19 Championships.

There he scored three goals as Serbia lost to the eventual champions Ukraine in the semi-final.

âÂÂPlayers like him are born once every 20-30 years,â said Petar Puaca, a former Red Star player who runs a football school in Novi Sad, the capital of the Vojvodina region.

âÂÂHeâÂÂs one of the best in the world for his age, and heâÂÂs a good boy.âÂÂ

"Taxi! Genoa please, and step on it!"

As captain of the Serbia U17 side, he scored five goals in three games in the final phase of qualifying for the 2008 European Championships, in which he scored a spectacular bicycle kick against Scotland in 2008.

That same year he played for SerbiaâÂÂs U19 and U21 sides before being called up to the full national team for a game against Poland that December, making him the only player to represent his country at four different age groups in a calendar year.

There have been suggestions his progress has stalled a little over the past year, and there were rumours that he had become a touch complacent at FK Vojvodina, but Genoa were undeterred, and will be hoping to get the best out of the clearly talented forward.

Talentspotter ratings:
Heading - 8
Crossing â 7
Tackling - 4
Creativity - 9
Passing - 9
Work-rate - 7
Pace - 7
Shooting - 9
Dribbling â 9
Overall - 8.5

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