Biography
Lazar Markovic joined City in January 2017 on loan from Liverpool. An attacking midfielder, Markovic had been sent on a series of loans to rebuild his confidence following a shaky start at Anfield and his form varied in his five months with the Tigers. At times he was irresistible, most notably when scoring in April 2017 victories over Middlesbrough and Watford, but at other times he was anonymous. By the closing weeks of the season City’s form under Marco Silva had delivered an unlikely chance to avoid relegation, but an ankle injury sustained by Markovic seemed to weaken the Tigers, contributing to the club’s drop in form and demise during May 2017.
Hailing from the historic city of Cacak in Serbia, Lazar Markovic played for his local junior side Borac Cacak before joining Partizan Belgrade as a teenager. He made his first team debut in May 2011, shortly after his 17th birthday, in the final game of the Serbian League season against Sloboda Uzice. He began the 2011/12 season as a first team regular for Partizan, playing in four European ties, scoring his first senior goal on the opening day of the League season against Novi Pazar and helping the Serb giants win the League title. He played a similar leading role as Partizan again lifted the League title in the 2012/13 season and by the summer of 2013 he had scored fourteen goals in 65 senior appearances for the club.
Rated amongst the top Serbian players and still only 19 years of age, in June 2013 Markovic transferred to Portuguese Liga Nos side Benfica amid strong interest from Premier League side Chelsea. Lazar missed only four League games in his debut season for Benfica and scored 7 goals in 49 appearances as the Lisbon side lifted the Portuguese title, won both domestic Cup competitions with two victories in finals against Rio Ave, and reached the Europa League final – although Markovic missed the final defeat to Sevilla after a late red card against Juventus in the semi final second leg led to a suspension.
Markovic’s form for Benfica encouraged English Premier League side Liverpool to part with £20 million for his services in July 2014 and he made his Premier League debut in August 2014 against Manchester City. He initially struggled to establish himself in the Anfield first team but after his first goal for the Reds in a December 2014 League Cup tie against Bournemouth he was a more regular part of the first team picture and ended the 2014/15 season with three goals in 34 appearances. Markovic spent the 2015/16 season on loan at Turkiye Super Lig side Fenerbahce where he scored twice in 21 appearances and played in the Turkish Cup final that Fenerbahce lost to Istanbul rivals Galatasaray. With Liverpool now resurgent under new manager Jurgen Klopp and Markovic out of the Reds’ first team plans, he was loaned to Portuguese side Sporting Club de Portugal in August 2016 and he scored twice in 14 appearances for the Lisbon side before his loan was cut short in January 2017 to enable his loan move to the Tigers.
Markovic returned to Liverpool after his Hull City loan but made no further impression on boss Jurgen Klopp during the 2017/18 season, appearing just once as unused substitute in a League Cup tie against Leicester City. In January 2018 Lazar was loaned to Belgian Jupiler League side RSC Anderlecht where he scored once in 8 appearances. Another barren spell ensued in the first half of the 2018/19 season before he finally left Liverpool in January 2019 having made a total of just 34 appearances in a four and a half year spell. He signed for Premier League strugglers Fulham on the January 2019 deadline day but made just one appearance in February 2019 against West Ham United before being released by the Cottagers five months later.
In September 2019 Markovic returned to Partizan Belgrade and quickly rediscovered superb form, scoring on his second debut for the club against Proleter. In three seasons he scored 20 goals in 89 senior appearances as Partizan three times finished League runners-up to local rivals Red Star and were three times losing finalists in the Serbian Cup.
In July 2022 he moved on again, joining Turkish Super Lig side Gaziantep FK and scored five goals in his first half season. In February 2023 Lazar was loaned to Super Lig rivals Trabzonspor after Gaziantep’s season was abandoned due to a devastating earthquake in that area of Turkiye – he scored one goal in 9 appearances for the Trabzon side. Lazar returned to the Gaziantep first team when the club returned to league action for the 2023/24 season and was on the fringes of the first team for much of the season as his side struggled in the Super Lig relegation places, but when he was restored to the starting eleven for the last three matches of the season Gaziantep won all three and avoided relegation – Markovic’s tally for the club had reached nine goals in 56 appearances.
Lazar left Turkiye in July 2024 to join UAE Pro League side Baniyas and scored on his August 2024 debut against Dibba Al-Hisn.
Markovic was involved with the Serbian international setup from a young age, making his Under-17s debut in September 2009 against Germany and winning eight caps at that level. After two Under-21 caps in October 2011 and November 2011 he made his senior international debut for Serbia in February 2012 against Armenia, five days before his 18th birthday. In November 2012 Markovic scored the first of two international goals against Chile, the other coming a year later against Wales. He won the last of his 22 international caps in November 2016 against Ukraine.
Details
Nationality: Serbia
Date/Place of Birth: 2 March 1994, Cacak (Serbia)
Hull City First Game: 26 January 2017, Manchester United H (Football League Cup Semi Final Second Leg), 22 years, 330 days old
Hull City Final Game: 6 May 2017, Sunderland H (Premier League), 23 years, 65 days
Clubs
Partizan Belgrade (2011-2013), Benfica (2013-2014), Liverpool (2014-2019), Fenerbache (2015-2016, loan), Sporting Club de Portugal (2016-2017, loan), Hull City (2017, loan), RSC Anderlecht (2018, loan), Fulham (2019), Partizan Belgrade (2019-2022), Gaziantep FK (2022-2024), Trabzonspor (2023, loan), Baniyas (2024-current)
Hull City Record
Career: 14 apps, 2 goals
Lazar Markovic| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016/17 | 12 (0) | 2 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | – | – | – | – |