Barely a few days after signing with Red Star Belgrade, twenty-one-year-old Savićević promptly got called in to serve the mandatory Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) stint that would keep him out of action for the entire 1988–89 league season. Also signing with Red Star on the same day was Darko Pančev, a twenty-two-year-old natural striker with great goalscoring pedigree from Vardar Skopje, who also got called up to the army right after signing. There was much speculation at the time that the timing of the call-ups was FK Partizan's (Yugoslav army club with many ties to top military authorities) revenge to both players for signing with their biggest rivals. Right after reporting to the military, Savićević got transferred to the barracks in Skopje with an agreement that he'll be allowed to turn up for Red Star's European ties and national team matches. In order to help him maintain his conditioning, Red Star dispatched its trainer and youth team coach Vojkan Melić to Skopje in order to work with Savićević individually by putting him through daily training regiment.