Real Madrid: 3 players who need more minutes after Matchday 13

ST Luka Jovic

You had to know Luka Jovic would appear on this list. Jovic received back-to-back starts in the first couple of matchdays of the 2020-2021 La Liga season against Real Betis and Real Valladolid, and he looked decent in both matches. The problem is that “decent” does not lead to starts over Karim Benzema, and now that Benzema is finding his best form, Real Madrid have even less incentive to give Jovic minutes.

But I honestly think the biggest problem for Jovic is a guy who isn’t even in a Madrid player. It seems like the team is set on Erling Haaland as their striker of the future, and they could make a play for him in 2021 or 2022, depending on what happens with Kylian Mbappe.

My question is, why give up on Jovic so soon? Real Madrid paid 60 million euros for him, and you’d think they would try a little bit harder to help a guy who scored 27 goals as a young striker for Eintracht Frankfurt fit in, given what they invested.

Jovic has played just 149 minutes in La Liga this season, which is the least of any attacking player besides Castilla’s Arribas and AS Roma’s Borja Mayoral. His 59 Champions League minutes are ahead of only Isco and Arribas.

I understand that Jovic has missed time with injury and COVID-19, but even when he’s healthy, we’re starting to see the same issues as last season. Los Blancos must make sure to give Jovic a chance in a make-or-break year.