Real Madrid: Florentino Perez’s harsh outlook on Luka Jovic’s future
Real Madrid striker Luka Jovic received some starts to begin the season, but he’s fallen out of favor again. And his long-term future seems non-existent.
It’s starting to look more and more like Real Madrid spent 60 million euros on Luka Jovic for nothing. The Serbian international has played reasonably well for Los Blancos whenever he’s been subbed in or on the rare occasions he’s started.
Jovic scored two goals with one assist in 430 La Liga minutes last season, and while he hasn’t scored in about 200 minutes this season, his movement and work did help Los Blancos in wins over Real Betis and Real Valladolid. However, Jovic has not started since those back-to-back starts, which were his only back-to-back starts since signing in summer 2019.
According to a report from El Confidencial’s Fermin de la Calle, Florentino Perez told Zinedine Zidane that Luka Jovic is Los Blancos’ No. 9 only until the club signs Kylian Mbappe. The report also states that because Jovic hasn’t gotten along well with his teammates, Zidane hasn’t viewed the striker more positively either.
Jovic is a very talented player. It would be unreasonable to doubt Jovic’s ability, because he scored 27 goals for Eintracht Frankfurt as a superstar in the Bundesliga and Europa League before joining Real Madrid with much hype.
Luka Jovic does not seem to be a good fit for Real Madrid
But it’s a question of fit. Jovic doesn’t fit Real Madrid’s playing style, nor does he seem to fit the locker room or ethos of the team. He and Karim Benzema are extremely different strikers, and since Benzema is a club legend who is among the team’s leaders in goals and assists every year, Jovic isn’t going to displace him. And Zidane and Perez don’t seem to be prioritizing his development either.
Jovic was involved in loan rumors this summer to Serie A, but fellow striker Borja Mayoral ended up going to AS Roma. On the way out, Mayoral basically admitted that Real Madrid have given up on Jovic’s long-term future.
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At this point, Jovic isn’t playing and everyone knows he isn’t a part of Real’s future. The club has been linked to Mbappe and an out-and-out striker in Erling Haaland, who is also an even better – and younger – player than Jovic. So Jovic’s transfer value is quite low, meaning Real would have to accept less than 60 million euros. But teams would still be interested, since Jovic’s talent has already made him famous.