Player profile – Goran Pandev

Lazio’s forward, “Il grande Macedone” – Goran Pandev with his brilliant appearances lately, has promoted himself as one of the best forwards in Serie A and beyond.
He is only 23 and he has already fascinated major European clubs with his physical strength and goalscoring abilities alongside his maturity display.
Goran Pandev was born in Strumica on July 27, 1983.
He made his first football steps in the youth academy of FK Belasica and in 2000 he made his debut for the first team when he was only 17.
His career turned upstairs when he and his teammate from Belasica, Ace Stojkov got offer from FC Inter.
In 2001 Pandev moved to Milano and joined the youth squad of Inter. He kept developing there but he hasn’t got a chance for first team appearance. He spent 2002/03 on a loan to Spezia, and the next 2003/04 in Ancona. Scoring few goals in about 40 matches is not much of a success, but knowing the age of the striker, it wasn’t such a bad achievement.
Pandev experienced playing in Italian lower leagues and improved his physical and technical abilities. Then the real challenge came.

In 2004 Goran Pandev was transferred from Inter to Lazio as a part of Stankovic’s transfer of to Inter. Very quickly, Goran Pandev became popular among the Lazio fans, and also among the fans of Macedonian NT. With his 25 goals in 3 seasons at Lazio he turned himself into the one of the best Lazio players nowadays. Pandev is playing another brilliant season at Lazio (2007/08) and he has chances to finish the season with more than 20 goals in every competition.

Goran Pandev is not a classic forward. His position in Lazio is right behind the full striker (Rocchi). In Macedonia he has free role and plays something like attacking midfield. This speaks about his contribution in connecting the midfield and the attack.
Pandev is a hard player with great body balance and it’s almost impossible for opponent defenders to beat him in physical duel. He is cleaver enough and can be stopped only with foul. The ball is secure in his legs.
Other great qualities are dribbling and passing. I can never forget the mach against Juventus and Pandev’s magic while Buffone, Canavarro, Thuram and Zebina were out of their shoes, and many other fantastic moves.
And at last, I think that his biggest quality is the shoot accuracy. He strikes precisely and steady and a lot of goalkeepers are helpless in that situation.
His speed and stamina are not his biggest strengths, but he can handle with them.

Take a look at some of his goals:





Goran Pandev has a great career in front of him. Major European clubs like Bayern, Arsenal and Real Madrid are interested in his services.