Serb authorities investigating the mysterious housewife who uses placenta to treat Barclays Premier League players want to question her about possible tax evasion.
Mariana Kovacevic, whom they believe has at least three aliases and as many as four different addresses around Belgrade, is thought to charge 3,000 euros for sessions treating the likes of Robin van Persie and Frank Lampard.
That is six times the average monthly take-home pay in the Serb capital. She is not officially registered as a practising physiotherapist and the only Mariana Kovacevic in health authority records is listed at a pharmacy in Sarajevska Street.
When Sportsmail attempted to trace her at the pharmacy, we were told: ‘Ah, the woman that everybody in the city is looking for? No, I don’t know her. She doesn’t work here.’
In a case which is developing the sinister trappings of an underworld operation, Kovacevic has disappeared without trace. The players she is currently treating are also being kept hidden from view by a bewildering combination of subterfuge, private jets, fast cars and eagle-eyed surveillance.
Chelsea have admitted privately that Lampard flew to Belgrade on Friday for treatment on his damaged left thigh, yet he was not even seen at the airport, being funneled through the VIP arrivals terminal.
The authorities believe Kovacevic regularly changes her appearance, notably her style of dressing and her hair colour in a constant effort to avoid detection.
Now that the authorities have been alerted to her existence and her dubious medical practices - notably by van Persie, who unwittingly alerted the world at large last week - and the lack of unpaid tax, the fortysomething mother of three who is now thought to have spent time working for the Azerbaijan national side will be constantly sought by Serb Police.
Kovacevic has not been seen at her New Belgrade clinic since Wednesday when Van Persie, Glen Johnson and Fabio Aurelio arrived for treatment which is now understood to involve the use of electrical impulses and small metal sticks covered in placenta jelly penetrating the skin and then being fed back through it.
Seven days ago, Serb sportsmen happily spoke about their visits to see Kovacevic and the miracle cures she had performed on their injuries. Now it is almost impossible to find one who will even admit to visiting her.
Partizan Belgrade’s Portugal midfielder Almami Da Silva Moreira denied seeing her, in spite of being identified by the owner of the cafe bar directly opposite as having entered Kovacevic’s clinic earlier this season.
Speaking after Saturday’s 2-1 league win over Smederevo, Moreira said: ‘I haven’t been to see her and I hope I don’t need to see her in the future, but I would go. You must believe in life. If people believe in her it’s a good thing. She can help them.
‘Maybe the players who have seen her can’t explain to their club doctors what she is doing there. Maybe she is doing magic things with a magic potion. If she was stopped doing what she does by the authorities, it would be a pity for football players. It would be a shame for everybody because Belgrade is the centre of the Premiership just now.’
Mariana Kovacevic, whom they believe has at least three aliases and as many as four different addresses around Belgrade, is thought to charge 3,000 euros for sessions treating the likes of Robin van Persie and Frank Lampard.
That is six times the average monthly take-home pay in the Serb capital. She is not officially registered as a practising physiotherapist and the only Mariana Kovacevic in health authority records is listed at a pharmacy in Sarajevska Street.
When Sportsmail attempted to trace her at the pharmacy, we were told: ‘Ah, the woman that everybody in the city is looking for? No, I don’t know her. She doesn’t work here.’
In a case which is developing the sinister trappings of an underworld operation, Kovacevic has disappeared without trace. The players she is currently treating are also being kept hidden from view by a bewildering combination of subterfuge, private jets, fast cars and eagle-eyed surveillance.
Chelsea have admitted privately that Lampard flew to Belgrade on Friday for treatment on his damaged left thigh, yet he was not even seen at the airport, being funneled through the VIP arrivals terminal.
The authorities believe Kovacevic regularly changes her appearance, notably her style of dressing and her hair colour in a constant effort to avoid detection.
Now that the authorities have been alerted to her existence and her dubious medical practices - notably by van Persie, who unwittingly alerted the world at large last week - and the lack of unpaid tax, the fortysomething mother of three who is now thought to have spent time working for the Azerbaijan national side will be constantly sought by Serb Police.
Kovacevic has not been seen at her New Belgrade clinic since Wednesday when Van Persie, Glen Johnson and Fabio Aurelio arrived for treatment which is now understood to involve the use of electrical impulses and small metal sticks covered in placenta jelly penetrating the skin and then being fed back through it.
Seven days ago, Serb sportsmen happily spoke about their visits to see Kovacevic and the miracle cures she had performed on their injuries. Now it is almost impossible to find one who will even admit to visiting her.
Partizan Belgrade’s Portugal midfielder Almami Da Silva Moreira denied seeing her, in spite of being identified by the owner of the cafe bar directly opposite as having entered Kovacevic’s clinic earlier this season.
Speaking after Saturday’s 2-1 league win over Smederevo, Moreira said: ‘I haven’t been to see her and I hope I don’t need to see her in the future, but I would go. You must believe in life. If people believe in her it’s a good thing. She can help them.
‘Maybe the players who have seen her can’t explain to their club doctors what she is doing there. Maybe she is doing magic things with a magic potion. If she was stopped doing what she does by the authorities, it would be a pity for football players. It would be a shame for everybody because Belgrade is the centre of the Premiership just now.’
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