“Until I moved to Admira Wacker Mödling when I was 19, I never had a coach who fully put his confidence in me,” Kalajdzic explains. “I always had to start from scratch and earn my spot in the team all over again.” One of the reasons for this was that although he is now two metres tall, as a youth player he was smaller than most of his peers. Only when he was around 16 or 17 did Kalajdzic go through a growth spurt and suddenly find himself 1.90m tall.
Breakthrough at Admira
The Austrian had to show plenty of will-power throughout his time in the youth football ranks as he suffered frequent setbacks, but this merely served to strengthen his resolve as he made his way through various youth teams and then fourth-division outfit SR Donaufeld in Vienna to Austrian Bundesliga side FC Admira Wacker Mödling. His performances with Admira’s second team were enough to see him given a spot in the club’s Bundesliga squad in the summer of 2017. His first few games went smoothly until injuries began to plague him, and it was not until March 2019 that he was fully fit again. Sasa soon set about making up for lost time, with eight goals and four assists in 15 matches to finish off the season.
He may only have played half a season, but he had caught the eye both domestically and abroad, and that summer Sven Mislintat came calling. The VfB sporting director made a convincing case, and soon Kalajdzic was on his way to Stuttgart.
First match closely followed by first goal
This was set to be the highpoint of his fledgling career, but once again his body was to let him down as he suffered a serious knee injury during pre-season which would sideline him for months as he worked his way back to fitness. “I’d already been though a lot but this injury was really hard to swallow. The medical staff told me that I should write off the entire season,” Kalajdzic said, but he took that as a challenge and worked day in, day out for many a long month in an attempt to make a comeback earlier than planned. The COVID-19-enforced break proved to be a blessing in disguise, and Sasa was able to make his debut for VfB on 28 May against HSV as the season was extended. In the 6-0 win at Nürnberg, the striker also managed to score his first goal in German football and he rounded the season off by celebrating promotion to the Bundesliga. Next season, the young Austrian will be hoping to remain fit and take his career to the next level.