By the 1987–88 season, bigger Yugoslav teams, primarily Red Star Belgrade and FK Partizan, began expressing strong interest in the Montenegrin's services. The twenty-one-year-old became the most sought-after young asset in Yugoslav football resulting in his entire league season at Budućnost being marked by the chase for his signature. Budućnost was reportedly more inclined on selling him to Partizan, however by January 1988 he reached a verbal agreement with Red Star's representatives Miloš Slijepčević, Nastadin Begović, Dragan Džajić, and Vladimir Cvetković about transferring to the club because their offer was "direct and financially more concrete than Partizan's".