According to Fabrizio Romano, who Football Park rate as a tier one in reliability, English side Brentford have shown an interest in Strahinja Pavlović and apparently opened talks to sign him.

Pavlović, who plays as a centre-back for RB Salzburg and the Serbian national team, has received attention from many clubs after his impressive performances on club level and at the 2024 Euro which will not make it easy for the Premier League club to come to an agreement.

🚨🔴⚪️ EXCL: Brentford open talks to sign Strahinja Pavlović as new defender from RB Salzburg.

Not an easy deal with many clubs keen on signing him but genuine interest and first round of talks took place.

Brentford have two more options for the same position. pic.twitter.com/QpHJ7caEKU

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 4, 2024

Regardless, a first round of talks have apparently already taken place after Serbia's Euro 2024 loss against England in the round of 16.

Playing in the Austrian Bundesliga, Pavlović’s name has not been talked about much in recent years but with the new gained attention he is receiving, it might be interesting to get to know more about the 23-year-old.

Pavlović at RB Salzburg

Pavlović joined the Australian Bundesliga club RB Salzburg in 2022 after he spent two and a half years at Ligue 1 club AS Monaco.

Monaco bought him for a fee of €10m from his youth club Partizan Belgrade but he barely played Les Rouge et Blanc, as he went on loan during all his three seasons with the Italian side.

FC Salzburg then bought him out of his contract in July 2022 for €7m and ever since, Pavlović’s estimated market value, according to Transfermarkt, has increased to €25m.

Diese Emotionen 🫀#RBSASK pic.twitter.com/sjedZXNl0H

— FC Red Bull Salzburg (@RedBullSalzburg) May 19, 2024

In Salzburg, he plays as their key centre-back and had 26 out of possible 32 appearances in the Bundesliga last season.

He played a major role in the Austrian side only conceding 29 goals throughout the whole season - only one team was even better: SK Sturm Graz only conceded 23 goals and also won the Championship with a two point lead over Salzburg.

His first season with the Austrian side was even more successful, as he won the league that year.

Officially, Pavlović still has a contract with Salzburg until 2027 but he does have the option to leave the club for a fee at any earlier time. Last year, he did mention that he sees his future at the club and could not see himself transfering anytime soon.

His journey with the Serbian national team

The centre-back made his debut for the Serbian national team in 2020 during a Nations League game against Russia and has since been a crucial part of the team, despite his young age.

His first major international tournament was the 2022 World Cup in Qatar where he was already a part of Dragan Stojković’s first XI and although Pavlović played a good tournament, Serbia conceded eight goals in three games and got knocked out in the group stage of the tournament.

During this year’s Euro campaign, Serbia have not made it past the group stage once more, despite having beatable opponents in Slovenia, Denmark and England.

England and Denmark look like hard teams to beat on paper but both have performed poorly enough to give Serbia the chance to win in these games. In the end, they lost 1-0 against England and managed to keep a clean sheet with a 0-0 draw against Denmark.

Strahinja Pavlovic vs. England #EURO2024

✅ 79% pass accuracy
🧱 2 interceptions
🪄 2/2 successful dribbles
⚔️ 4/4 tackles won
💥 5 clearances
💪 1/1 aerial duel won

What a defender. 🇷🇸🌟 pic.twitter.com/Q7mG8gTHlH

— FC Red Bull Salzburg (@RedBullSalzburg) June 16, 2024

As centre-back, Pavlović has shown immense quality during this tournament. His team only conceded two goals in three games and have played against teams who created many chances and were dominant in possession.

Regardless, it was hard for Serbia’s opponents to get past the defense around Pavlović and despite not making it through the group stage, the 23-year-old has shown his skill as a defender.

He can already be a lead player for a team although he is still young and he also showed the skills of a top-class defensive player during the tournament.

Why are Brentford interested?

Last season, Brentford’s main centre-backs were Ben Mee and Ethan Pinnock and they also had two alternatives on the bench with Kristoffer Ajmer and Zanka.

As of now, it does seem like the Premier League club wants to change something about their lineup and perhaps make the starting XI younger in age after recently signing the 23-year-old Nathan Collins from Wolves.

As Collins is right-footed and Pavlović is left-footed, these two young players could make a fantastic duo and be the new defensive faces of Brentford.

Nonetheless, Romano reported that Brentford has two other options for the same position, so it will be interesting to see whether they will complete Pavlović’s signing or chose another option.