Bojan Krkić Pérez

Bojan Krkić Pérez (Serbian: Бојан Кркић Перез; pronounced Boyan Krkich Perez; born 28 August 1990) known as just Bojan, is a Spanish footballer who currently plays as a forward or winger for Italian Serie A club Roma.

Early Years

Born in Linyola, Lleida, Catalonia, to a Serbian father (Bojan Krkić Sr.) who was a professional footballer for the Serbian side Red Star Belgrade and a Spanish mother (Maria Lluïsa Pérez), Bojan played for FC Barcelona's youth teams from 1999 to 2006. A quick striker with quite notable dribbling skills, it was reported that he scored over 500 goals for the youth teams in five and a half years. He then played the 2006–07 season with the FC Barcelona B team until he signed a professional contract with the Barcelona A team upon turning 17. Bojan played his first match with Barcelona on 24 April 2007, scoring a goal in a friendly match against Egyptian giants Al-Ahly.

Barcelona

On 16 September 2007 (at 17 years and 19 days), Bojan made his official debut for Barcelona against CA Osasuna, replacing Giovani dos Santos in the 78th minute and breaking Lionel Messi's record of the youngest Barcelona player to feature in a La Liga match. Three days later, he made his UEFA Champions League debut against Olympique Lyonnais, coming on at the 88th minute for Messi. He was, at the time, the youngest Barcelona player ever to feature in a Champions League game, at 17 years and 22 days.He made his second Champions League appearance on 2 October, coming on at the 81st minute for Ronaldinho against VfB Stuttgart. On 20 October 2007 (at 17 years and 53 days), Bojan made his first league start for Barcelona away to Villarreal CF and scored in the 25th minute. It was his first goal for the club's first team and it made him the youngest ever goalscorer for Barcelona in a league match.

Bojan scored his first ever Champions League goal on 1 April 2008 (at 17 years and 217 days) against Schalke 04, netting the only goal in the first (away) leg of the quarter-finals, making him the first person born in the 1990s to score in the Champions League and the second youngest player ever, behind Ghanaian forward Peter Ofori-Quaye, then playing for Olympiacos, who scored at the age of 17 years and 195 days.Bojan finished the season with a record of 10 goals, breaking Raúl's record of most goals scored in a debut season.

On the first day of the La Liga campaign against Sporting de Gijón, Bojan scored a header in the 18th minute courtesy of a flick from Seydou Keita. Barcelona went on to win the game by a scoreline of 3-0. On 10 November, he scored twice in the second leg of the Copa del Rey against Cultural Leonesa, helping his team to a 5-0 victory. Coming off the bench as a late substitute for Andrés Iniesta, Bojan scored his first and only Champions League goal of the season against VfB Stuttgart. He began finding the net more often towards the end of the season; 7 of his 8 league goals for the season came from the last 12 games.

Bojan took the number 9 shirt after Zlatan Ibrahimović moved on loan to A.C. Milan. The season saw Bojan find himself behind Lionel Messi, Pedro Rodríguez and David Villa in the pecking order. In the match against AD Ceuta in the Copa del Rey, Bojan captained Barcelona for the first time in an official match. He came off of the bench against UD Almería to score the sixth and eighth goal in an 8-0 win and later came on against Real Madrid in El Clásico to set up the fifth goal in a 5-0 win for Jeffrén Suárez. In a La Liga match against Real Sociedad, Bojan again came off the bench to score the fifth goal in 5-0 win. He scored a crucial league goal from a Daniel Alves assist for Barcelona against Sevilla in a 1-1 draw. He marked his 100th league appearance for the Catalan club with a goal against Getafe CF.

Roma

On 22 July 2011 Roma bought Bojan for a fee of €12 million. The sale includes a buyback clause that is optional next season (2012 for €17m) and mandatory after the second season (2013 for €13m). However Roma can stop Barcelona from re-signing him if they pay an additional €28 million. He made his unofficial debut on 3 August 2011 against Vasas in Budapest He scored his first goal from an assist from Daniele De Rossi for the Giallorossi by scoring the opening goal against Atalanta on 1 October 2011. He scored his 2nd goal against Milan. Roma lost that game 2:3. On October 5, he opened the scoring against Novara,from an assist from Miralem Pjanic. Roma won 0:2.

Spanish National Team

He was called up by the Serbian national team and team manager Radomir Antić but declined because of his wish to play for La Furia Roja (the Red Fury), which he considered the only national colours that he would have on his jersey.

On 1 February 2008, Bojan was included in Luis Aragonés' squad for the friendly against France on 6 February 2008. Should he have featured in that match, Bojan would have made history by becoming the youngest player ever to represent Spain at 17 years, 5 months and 9 days, eclipsing Ángel Zubieta's record of 17 years and 9 months, which has stood for over 70 years. However, Bojan fell ill and could not play.
On 17 May 2008, it was revealed that Bojan had been left out of Spain's 23-man squad for Euro 2008, after having talked to Luis Aragonés asking if he could be left out of the team on personal grounds, and also citing fatigue.
He made his debut on 10 September 2008 (at 18 years and 13 days) under Vicente del Bosque against Armenia, where he came on during the last ten minutes for Santi Cazorla and played on the right wing

Catalonian National Team

Bojan made his official debut with Catalonia in the friendly match against the Basque Country on 29 December 2007 in Bilbao; he scored the Catalan goal in the 1–1 draw. He also scored a year later on 29 December 2008 in the 2–1 win over Colombia and in the 4–2 win against Argentina in 22 December 2009. He scored twice and also provided two assists in a 4–0 win against Honduras on 29 December 2010.