Real Madrid: Selling Luka Jovic would be a terrible decision

Although striker Luka Jovic made only a minimal impact in his first season with Real Madrid, selling him now would be a major mistake.

Real Madrid purchased Luka Jovic from Eintracht Frankfurt last summer for a cool 60 million euros, earmarking him as their No. 9 of the future.

Jovic found it difficult to obtain playing time in his first season with Los Blancos, which is understandable. It isn’t easy to unseat a club legend like Karim Benzema, who was one of La Liga’s top three players in the first half of the season, neck and neck with Lionel Messi as the league’s top all-around attacker.

Benzema struggled in front of goal after December and didn’t have as much of an influence creatively, which made Jovic’s lack of playing time all the more frustrating to see. Fans then latched onto Mariano Diaz after his late-game heroics in El Clasico, as his goal within seconds of his inclusion into the game sealed a victory for Real Madrid against their bitter rivals.

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Mariano’s heroics and Benzema’s world-class first half of the season overshadowed Jovic, but the Serbia international had a few memorable moments in 2019-2020.

He had a winning backheel assist for Casemiro in a 2-1 home win over Sevilla, and he scored a cool game-sealing goal in the final minutes of Real’s 4-1 win over Osasuna in Pamplona.

Despite those flashes of brilliance, Jovic has been mired in transfer rumors. Tottenham, Napoli, and others have been linked to Jovic, and some fans have already given up on the young striker.

Making Jovic an afterthought would be unfair. And selling him would be outright foolish.

It’s important not to make a mountain out of the rumors, because rumors will always swirl, especially around Real Madrid players. That’s simply how the beast works. But rest assured, Los Blancos won’t sell Jovic this summer.

Real Madrid want goals. Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, and other top young players will be on Florentino Perez’s list of targets, as the club needs firepower in its attack.

Let’s not forget that Jovic was once one of the Bundesliga’s top scorers at Eintracht Frankfurt, even though he split goal-scoring duties with Sebastien Haller and Ante Rebic in front of one of the Bundesliga’s least creative midfields.

Jovic has an outstanding eye for goal, underrated athletic ability, and even more underappreciated link-up play. He’s shown all the positive aspects of his game in glimpses in his first season at Real, but expecting dominance would have been unfair.

Zinedine Zidane, as his approach with Vinicius Junior in the first half of the season and recent “demotion” to Castilla for Rodrygo have shown, likes to play things slowly with young players. Confidence is key for them, and that’s especially true for a young striker in his first season at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Jovic’s time will come. Zidane was the one who wanted Jovic and helped convince Perez to make the transfer this summer, so the French manager surely has one eye to the future with the highly prized 22-year-old.

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Therefore, we should be just as patient as the legendary manager. Jovic had as many goals and assists (minus penalties) per 90 minutes as Benzema last season with 0.69. Quietly, the production is there. Clearly, the talent is there. With time, the opportunity and subsequent plaudits will come.

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