Notts County never saw the best of free agent midfielder - He would go on to play European football after Meadow Lane spell | OneFootball

The attacking midfielder played just nine times whilst at Notts County

When Notts County released Filip Valencic at the end of the 2015/16 season, many wouldn't have expected him to have the career that he did.

The Slovenian midfielder played just nine times in that year's League Two campaign, as the Magpies' return to the fourth tier ended rather disappointingly, finishing 17th.

Valencic wasn't anything special whilst at Meadow Lane, and would return to playing elsewhere in Europe afterward, signing for Finnish side Kemi Kings for a season.

It was at his next club, HJK Helsinki, where he would first play in European competitions, and it wouldn't be the last time either.

Valencic will likely go down in the annals as a journeyman footballer, having played for 17 clubs, but it's a journey that many would look back on as a success in most of the places he went. However, Notts County wasn't one of those.

Filip Valencic's torrid time at Notts County

Notts County brought in Filip Valencic at the beginning of the 2015/16 season, the club's first in League Two since the 2009/10 campaign, on a short one-year deal following his departure from then-Serie C side Monza.

It was his first venture into English football, but one that got off to a rocky start.

Manager Ricardo Moniz didn't see Valencic as "first-team ready" and played him just twice in the early parts of the season before he left the club in December. During that time, the then-24-year-old played primarily for the reserves.

Under new manager Jamie Fullarton, he began to earn more opportunities and scored the sole goal on his first start in a win over Crawley Town. That was, unfortunately, the best it got for Valencic at Meadow Lane.

A long period out of the team once again followed, but the midfielder was drafted in to start six of the last seven games that season.

After failing to impress during that short stint, Valencic wasn't offered a new deal at Notts County, and thus ended his time playing in England, scoring once in just nine appearances.

Player of the Year and European spells - Filip Valencic's journey since leaving Notts County

Given the construction of the Finnish Veikkausliiga, Filip Valencic joined Kemi Kings midway through their 2016 season, but failed to make much of an impact.

It was in the 2017 campaign that the attacking midfielder established himself as one of the better players in the division, as his performances in the first half of the campaign earned him a move to the eventual title winners, HJK Helsinki.

His 15 goals across the whole season placed him joint-top in the scoring ranks, and he even went on to win the league's player of the season award that term.

Winning the league also saw his side play in UEFA Champions League qualification, but he played just 23 minutes in four games as the Finnish side bowed out to BATE Borisov.

An unsuccessful stint in Norway followed, before returning to Finland on loan at Inter Turku, and once again finished as the league's top scorer, this time with 16 goals. He helped his side to a second-place finish, and thus a place in 2018's Europa League qualifying round.

Whilst he and his side were unsuccessful in qualifying for the tournament proper, a return to HJK in 2021 saw him compete in the UEFA Champions League and Europa League qualifying, before earning a place in the 2021/22 Conference League.

Helsinki would fail to progress from their group, placing third after winning two of their six games, but Valencic played a part in every game, starting four of them.

The 33-year-old Slovenian may not have been able to find his groove at Meadow Lane, but he'll be well remembered in Finland as one of their top division's better players throughout the late 2010s, and as a rare former Notts County player who has gone on to play in Europe in the past decade.