Luka Jovic - A Thread

Struggling to replicate his success from last season, it seems that people have forgotten how good Luka Jovic can be. The Serbian enjoyed his breakout season last year and was awarded with a move to the Spanish giant, Real Madrid.

However, he has hardly made as much impact as he and the fans had hoped since his move. In this thread I will dive into why I still regard him as one of the best U23 centre-forward in the world and his situations at Real Madrid.

(I will be mainly using stats from last seasons where he was given enough minutes to show off his qualities.)

Jovic’s finishing ability is a strong part of his game. Not including penalties, he had an expected goals of 19.5 while scoring 25 goals in last season’s Bundesliga and Europa League campaign. An over-performance of 28% can be observed, an indication of his great finishing.

Jovic can score different kinds of goals, he showed this off against Dusseldorf. In that match he scored an overhead kick, a volley, a turn+goal, a goal just inside the box, a header. Meaning he can use certain techniques depending on the situation, a useful trait for a forward.

He is also both-footed, out of the 17 goals he scored for Frankfurt in the Bundesliga last season, he scored 8 with his right foot, 6 with his left foot. This makes him unpredictable and difficult for defenders to deal.

His movement and positioning are part of what makes him a deadly goal scorer, putting himself in positions where there are sufficient spaces for him to score goals. Below I will use some examples to show this off.

Not just being pacy, Jovic times his runs well, he only averaged 0.46 offside per game last season in the Bundesliga and Europa League, showing that he has good offside awareness and can utilise his pace well.

Jovic also has a good skillset, having a 45% dribble success rate in the league last season, he is a decent dribbler while being muscular and strong in the air. His assist numbers aren’t too bad either, assisting his teammates 5 times in the Bundesliga last season.

It is always difficult for players to adapt after moving to a club with the size of Real’s, expectations and the pressure are massive, players needing more time to adjust to this new surrounding is not surprising.

Moreover, only starting 4 matches in La Liga and usually subbed on in the later stages of games, it’s clear Jovic has not had enough opportunities, so to write him off this quickly would be a naive thing to do. Therefore, if I were a RM fan I wouldn’t be too worried.

In my opinion, as Jovic develops into a lone 9, using him as more of a poacher and have Hazard alongside him would be a suitable decision, one reason that Hazard x Benzema doesn’t entirely work is that they occupy the similar areas, a problem that can be avoided with Jovic.

In conclusion, I believe Luka Jovic is an elite striker despite his recent struggles and he will improve as he gets more opportunities and confidence.

Thanks for your time. Likes, RT and feedback including criticism are much appreciated.