For most of his career, Vanja Milinković-Savić has been introduced as somebody's brother. Sergej got the headlines in Rome, and Vanja got the footnote. That framing has aged badly. The goalkeeper arrived at Napoli from Torino on loan in 2025, the move became permanent, and he is now tied to the club until June 2030. Napoli are a club chasing trophies in Italy and Europe. They do not hand five-year horizons to footnotes.
So it's a good moment to look at him properly: the unusual route he took, what his game is built on, and what he's likely earning now that the uncertainty is gone.
On paper
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Vanja Milinković-Savić |
| Born | 20 February 1997, Ourense, Spain |
| Age | 29 |
| Nationality | Serbian (represents Serbia) |
| Club | Napoli, shirt number 32 |
| Position | Goalkeeper, right-footed |
| Height | 2.02 m (about 6ft 7.5in) |
| Contract | Until 30 June 2030 |
| Net worth | Icon Polls estimate: £9 million to £11 million |
Spanish birth certificate, Serbian shirt
The country question trips people up, and it's easy to see why. Vanja was born in Ourense, in Galicia, while his father Nikola Milinković was playing professional football in Spain. Two years earlier, Sergej had been born in Lleida for the same reason. Football families move, and birthplaces end up as accidents of the fixture list.
The family later settled in Serbia, and that is where Vanja grew up as a footballer. Some football records list both Serbian and Spanish citizenship, but there has never been much doubt about where his international loyalty sits. He came through Serbia's youth teams and was part of the squad that won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2015, a generation Serbian fans still talk about fondly. He has since stepped up to the senior national team.
Short version: Spanish by birth, Serbian by upbringing and by choice.
Manchester United, then the long way round
Here's the part of his story that surprises casual fans. As a teenager, Milinković-Savić had a deal agreed with Manchester United. He never made a senior appearance for them. Instead his career wandered through Vojvodina, Lechia Gdańsk, Torino, SPAL, Ascoli and Standard Liège, with several of those spells on loan, before Napoli.
That's a lot of dressing rooms. It is also, frankly, a fairly normal path for a young goalkeeper. Keepers mature later than outfield players, clubs rarely trust them early, and loans are how they collect minutes. Torino became the place where he turned into a recognisable Serie A name, and that body of work is what made Napoli's interest credible.
What 2.02 metres actually buys you
You notice the height first. Everyone does. At 2.02 metres he is unusually tall even by goalkeeping standards, and the benefits are obvious: crosses that would beat a smaller keeper end up in his gloves, crowded set pieces look less crowded, and he covers a big slice of the goal just by standing in it.
But height is not a free lunch. Very tall keepers have more body to get down to the ground and can look awkward on low shots close to the feet. What has kept him at the top level is the rest of the toolkit:
- Shot stopping that holds up against Serie A finishing.
- Penalty saving, which has become one of the more noticeable parts of his profile. His reach and anticipation make him a hard target from the spot.
- Distribution, particularly a long kick that can turn defence into attack in one move.
- Command of the box, which matters more than highlight-reel saves over a full season.
He is a different animal from the small, purely reactive keeper. Whether you prefer that style is a matter of taste, but it clearly suits a team that wants to bypass pressure when it needs to.
From loan to 2030
His Napoli move began as a loan with a compulsory purchase arrangement, so the permanent switch was baked in once the conditions were met. By the 2026/27 season he is listed as a full Napoli player wearing number 32. Widely tracked market valuations put him at around €20 million in mid 2026. Treat that as a guide, not a price tag: market value and an actual transfer fee are not the same thing.
The money, as best anyone can tell
Footballers don't publish their bank statements, so every number here is an estimate. Icon Polls estimates his fixed gross salary for 2026/27 at about €4.63 million, or roughly €89,000 a week, before bonuses and deductions. Performance bonuses, image rights and commercial deals can shift what lands in his account over a year.
On net worth, Icon Polls estimates a range of £9 million to £11 million. That reflects years of professional contracts in Italy and elsewhere, likely commercial income, and the taxes, fees and living costs that eat into gross earnings. It is deliberately separate from that €20 million valuation. A player can be worth a lot to a club without personally holding anything close to that sum. The Napoli deal is the biggest financial step of his career so far, and its length matters as much as its size.
Sergej, Nikola and Milana
The sporting genes run deep. Father Nikola Milinković played professional football; mother Milana Savić played professional basketball. Sergej, born in 1995, is the older of the two and built his reputation as a powerful, technical midfielder, most famously at Lazio, before moving to Saudi Arabia. Both have represented Serbia, at youth level and at senior international level.
The double surname reflects both sides of the family, a custom common in Spain, where both brothers were born. Comparisons between them are inevitable and a bit unfair, since one spends his life stopping what the other used to create. If you have a view on where either belongs among the game's best, the all-time best football players poll is open for your vote.
What stays private
Two topics get searched far more than the facts justify. On religion, he has not made clear public statements about his personal faith. Serbia has a strong Orthodox tradition, but nationality is not proof of anyone's beliefs, so Icon Polls lists it as not publicly confirmed. On relationships, there is no widely established public information about a wife, and he keeps that side of his life away from football coverage. Fair enough.
Three things readers keep asking
Is Vanja older or younger than Sergej?
Younger. Vanja was born in 1997, Sergej in 1995.
Is he still on loan at Napoli?
No. The loan carried a compulsory purchase, and he is now a permanent Napoli player under contract until 30 June 2030.
How tall is he in feet?
About 6 feet 7.5 inches, from a listed height of 2.02 metres.
