He is an international player, has strong performances in La Liga on his CV, but has barely played this season. Only: this winner comes with a story of frustration and clashes, and that immediately makes it risky.
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Topper on the couch: frustration boils over
Stole Dimitrievski (32), goalkeeper of Valencia, suddenly appears in the Belgian rumor mill: according to AS Diary follows Club Bruges him, just like Bournemouth and Genoa. In Mestalla he is currently mainly the goalkeeper who has to wait for playing opportunities, while the experienced international himself believes that he deserves more than a role as an extra. That tension makes Dimitrievski a fiery dossier.
Dimitrievski is not a goalkeeper who ended up at Valencia by chance. Valencia itself announced him in 2024 as a goalkeeper with agility, reflexes, reliability and commitment – and above all: one of the best shot stoppers in Spain. It is the summary of six seasons of Rayo Vallecano, where goalkeepers rarely have a quiet game. In LaLiga 2023/24 he recorded 13 clean sheets, good for fourth place in the rankings.
He also ranked seventh in the league for total saves (107). That is the profile of a goalkeeper who is often tested, scores a lot of points, and has to work hard for his clean sheets. That profile immediately explains why scouts would like to see him in their club.
Dimitrievski is 1m88, right-footed, and has been the regular goalkeeper for North Macedonia for years – he now has 85 caps. That is not just experience, that is also leadership: goalkeepers who are under fire every international match for smaller countries, know how to perform under pressure. And he has an extra specialty that is always interesting in Europe: saving penalties. He has eight saved penalties over his entire career.
Few minutes, a lot of tension: that is the risk
At Valencia, that arsenal of qualities hardly seems relevant, because he simply doesn’t play much. He has only played two games this season: in the Copa del Rey against Maracena and Cartagena. But therein lies the paradox: when he is under the bar, he immediately gets his moment. In Cartagena, Dimitrievski took a penalty in minute 119, deep in extra time – a save that Valencia literally saved, after which qualification was achieved.
In Valencia, Julen Agirrezabala is the regular choice in LaLiga, and Dimitrievski quickly felt that he could not possibly win the battle for the number one position. That’s also why AS his desire to leave is so sharp: he wants a change of environment, precisely because he considers the fight impossible to win. On top of that was his public frustration. In November he said in a podcast that he was surprised by a clause-like story surrounding the competition, and that he himself had gone from a lot of matches to almost nothing. The club reacted harshly: Dimitrievski apologized and received a financial penalty.
Yet it is too easy to dismiss him as a troublemaker. Dimitrievski is also just a goalkeeper with an outspoken character. When Rayo finally bought it in 2019, wrote AS that he became a crowd favorite so quickly that one fan even started a petition to have him canonized.
Reflexes for points… but also a character with spirit
In sporting terms, that character mainly translates into a certain type of goalkeeper. He is not an Ederson-like playmaker who serves the entire team with passes; Dimitrievsky is at his best when he is allowed to react, correct, and save. It is no coincidence that Valencia describes him as a reflex and reliability goalkeeper. His best seasons came at Rayo in a context where he learned to expect the second ball: a first save is often not enough, you have to reposition and also grab the rebound.
That’s why those 107 saves in 2023/24 fit his reputation so well. And then the link with Club Brugge becomes interesting, precisely because it is not a “sexy” transfer in name alone, but is also a logical one in terms of profile: experience and reliability, but also the ability to remain calm under Champions League pressure. Dimitrievski isn’t a 22-year-old with big sell-through potential; he is a 32-year-old who can immediately save games and keep under pressure.
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