Vladica "Vlado" Lemić (born 1966) is a Serbian former football player and current football agent.
Following a modest career as a professional footballer, Lemić became a top player agent—a calling where he's achieved significant prominence, presiding over and being an integral part of many high-profile transfers. Furthermore, due to his personal and business ties to many powerful figures in European club football, Lemić has established himself as an important behind-the-scenes figure in the sport.
Club career
Lemić spent most of his playing career with Borac Banja Luka, competing in the second-tier Yugoslav Second League. Otherwise mostly mediocre and unremarkable by top football standards, the highlight of his time at the club was winning the 1987–88 Yugoslav Cup. The famous final on 11 May 1988 at Belgrade's Marakana pitted the heavy underdog Banja Luka side against powerhouse Red Star Belgrade. Sensationally, Borac ended up winning 0-1, the first and only time Yugoslav Cup was won by a team outside the top-tier First Federal League. Lemić only appeared in the closing 2 minutes of the contest plus injury time as head coach Husnija Fazlić brought him on as substitute for the match's only goalscorer Senad Lupić.
As a result of the Cup win exposure, Lemić earned a transfer to the Belgian lower league club KFC Herentals.
Later, Lemić joined the Belgian top league side Lierse S.K. for a season, playing under head coach Eric Gerets.
Football agent
PSV connection 1999-2008
In 1999, a few years removed from his playing days, thirty-three-year-old upstart football agent Lemić got involved with PSV via his former Lierse coach Eric Gerets who had just become head coach of the Eindhoven club. Furthermore, Lemić's association with PSV was also facilitated by compatriot Ranko Stojić, a somewhat more seasoned Serbian football agent and another previously Gerets-coached former player, was also active on the transfer front for PSV in this period. As Lemić began bringing players into PSV—initially low-profile ones such as Saša Stojanović—the young agent also became close with PSV's sporting director Frank Arnesen.
Lemić's first transfer of note was the twenty-one-year-old Mateja Kežman's move from FK Partizan to Eindhoven during the summer of 2000. The young striker with plenty of positive notices from the FR Yugoslavia First League commanded a major price tag as the Dutch club was said to have paid DM27 million for his services. As the forward became an immediate scoring hit at Eindhoven, leading the Boeren to the Eredivisie title and becoming league top scorer in his first season with the club, the agent was simultaneously launched into a position of influence within PSV.
After Arnesen left in 2004, Lemić built a good relationship with his successor at the PSV sporting director post Stan Valckx, allowing the agent to remain an influential figure inside the club. Through Lemić's network of connections such as his South America-based agent brother Zoran, the club was able to get their hands on many acquisitions from that part of the world, the most famous of which were Brazilian goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, Peruvian winger Jefferson Farfán, and talented young striker Jonathan Reis. Additionally, Lemić engineered an agreement between Chelsea and PSV for Chelsea signings to be sent to PSV as part of co-sharing or loan deals until becoming eligible for a British work permit. Defenders Alex, Alcides, and Slobodan Rajković arrived to the Dutch club in this manner. Lemić's style at PSV was reportedly very hands-on as he could be regularly seen with players at the club's training complex De Herdgang. He also kept close contact with the club's head coaches in this period: first Guus Hiddink followed by Ronald Koeman while additionally fostering contacts with the Chelsea organization through Piet de Visser and Frank Arnesen, which allowed Lemić to reportedly become close with the English club's owner Roman Abramovich.