Marko Stamenic appreciates his journey to reach World Cup with New Zealand

They say the journey is more important than the destination and in the case of Swansea’s New Zealand midfielder Marko Stamenic, that may be true.

Stamenic has Carabao Cup opponents Manchester City on his mind again on Wednesday, having met them previously on Champions League duty with Copenhagen and Red Star Belgrade.

But Stamenic’s story runs far deeper: from bloody civil war in the former Yugoslavia before he was even born, to seeing his dream of playing in Europe almost wrecked by the Covid pandemic.

To dealing with colourful Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis and heading to the World Cup next summer with New Zealand.

“I’m a long way from home but I always wanted to come to Europe,” said Stamenic, whose father Nikola fled Novi Sad in Serbia for sanctuary as Yugoslavia was ripped apart in the 1990s.

“That was a difficult time for my dad and his family. They were just looking for an out, to get away from the chaos.

“They packed up their bags and started a new life on the other side of the world. Luckily for me, it was New Zealand where he met my mum, who is Samoan.”

His mother’s large family and Samoan culture dominated his upbringing and rugby-playing cousins were all around, with one of them, Filo Paulo going on to play for Cardiff and London Irish.

But the idea of playing top-level European football drove Stamenic and his chance came with Copenhagen in March 2020.

He said: “I was there for a week on trial when Covid hit hard at home and they were going into full lockdown.

“I went home and had a period of three or four months where it was a bit unknown. It was a mental battle, but I got the call to go back and Denmark was a good period.”

The 23-year-old won a league title at Copenhagen before joining Red Star and reconnecting with his father’s Serbian roots.

Relishing “big pressure” to win in Belgrade, Stamenic shone and 12 months later made a £4.6million switch to Forest before immediately moving to Marinakis’ Greek club Olympiacos on loan.

“My dream was always to play in the Premier League and Forest had a project,” said Stamenic.

“It ended up being one of the down periods of my career, but it’s where I learned the most about myself as a player and, most importantly, as a person.”

Stamenic cut his ties with Forest in August to join Swansea and, by then, had a World Cup to anticipate after New Zealand had qualified through the Oceania play-off.

He said: “It was definitely a surreal feeling. I remember watching the 2010 World Cup (in South Africa) with my father, waking up early for the games.

“I’d say to my dad, ‘I really want to be there with New Zealand one day’. Really fond memories and he and the whole family were there when we qualified.

“New Zealand is slowly seeing the potential of our little nation doing well at the World Cup.”