Real Madrid Transfers: A Luka Jovic winter loan only serves one cynical purpose

Real Madrid striker Luka Jovic has done everything in his power to stay with the club and prove to Zinedine Zidane, Carlo Ancelotti, or anyone else that he can be a solution for the team. Yet season after season, month after month, Jovic has been only able to find scraps of playing time. In his first season, he made the most of his limited opportunities, but, quite frankly, his chances – and goals – have become even more infrequent.

And thus, Marco Ruiz of AS reports that after resisting a move for some time, Luka Jovic is now open to leaving Real Madrid in the winter transfer window on another loan deal. Jovic still wants to stay in Madrid and prove himself, but he is reportedly just as willing to go out on loan to prove himself with a high-profile club.

We have already seen Inter Milan linked to the Serbian international, who has been a popular target for Serie A clubs in the rumor mill. And the league is a good destination for attacking players, as Borja Mayoral and Brahim Diaz can attest.

Jovic was loaned out last winter for six months to a club where he found enough success to coax Real Madrid into paying 60 million euros for him. But with Andre Silva balling out as one of the Bundesliga’s top strikers, Jovic’s time at Eintracht Frankfurt was forgettable. It started out promising, but Jovic was just as important to Eintracht as he was to Real in 2020-2021. That is, not at all.

Real Madrid would loan Luka Jovic out in order to sell him later

So if Real Madrid loan Jovic out, who is to say he would get opportunities? Clubs like Inter and Arsenal may be interested, but is there any reason to believe he would become important to either of them? There is also the matter of Karim Benzema’s fitness and the fact that Mariano Diaz appears to be the only backup striker if Jovic were to leave this winter. Aside from Rodrygo Goes or even Eden Hazard or Isco as a false nine, there is no other option with Jovic gone.

Keeping these factors in mind, there is only one reason why Real Madrid would loan Jovic for six months, risking their depth at striker and another six months wasted for the young forward anyway. And that reason would be to sell him.

As we saw with Martin Odegaard, the Norwegian played well enough for Arsenal to earn a 35-40 million euro transfer – more than what Real Madrid eventually paid to sign a more valuable player in Eduardo Camavinga.

Perhaps Los Blancos are aiming to do the same for Jovic. Long-term, they don’t seem to have much use for him. And clearly, with Karim Benzema still going strong, Jovic is not a short-term starter. Real Madrid want to sign Erling Haaland, which would make Jovic obsolete. If that is the case, Real would love to loan him out where he could convince a team to spend a similar fee to what Real received for Odegaard.

They would never make a profit on the initial 60 million euros, but times change. If they can even get around 40 million euros for Jovic, I am sure Real would take it, and that money would fund half of Haaland’s release clause, which actually reportedly becomes active this January.

So if Real loan out Jovic this winter, it isn’t as a favor to the player or for him to prove himself for a Bernabeu future. They would loan him to boost his market value or convince the club taking him on that he should be purchased permanently. Because it sincerely seems that Real want to do everything they can to replace him with Haaland. If not, Mbappe would be the striker to Vinicius Junior at left wing, and they would use the money allocated for Haaland on a right winger. Antony, perhaps.