He was supposed to be Benzema’s successor, but now he is at Fiorentina. The wasted talent Luka Jović

Before reading the headline, who knew where Luka Jovic was playing today? The former Eintracht Frankfurt superstar turned burnt out White Ballet star. The youngest ever scorer of five goals in a single Bundesliga game, Real Madrid accepted a palpable financial loss to release the now 25-year-old Serbian striker from their services. How could the trophy-laden former cannonballer fall so far behind?

Starting out in Serbia and selling in Limassol

Luka Jovic started his career at FK Crvena Zvezda Belgrade. Already in the youth categories he was always ahead. At the age of 14 he left the U15 to join the U17 team. A year later he jumped to U19 and after another season as a 16-year-old he joined the Belgrade first team.

In the same year, two years older Marko Grujic, a long-time FC Liverpool midfielder, joined the ‘A’s’ but spent most of his time in the north-west of England travelling around Europe in a never-ending series of guest appearances.

Jovic played less than two seasons of adult football for Belgrade, and even in limited minutes, reflecting his extremely young age, he managed to impress enough with five goals and two assists in 644 minutes of football during the first half of his second season at the club. A performance that sparked interest in the then 18-year-old Jovic.

So, in January 2016, the Serbian finisher moved. On 25 January that year, Apollon Limassol, a club from Cyprus, paid €2 million for Jović. The transfer that we are raising our eyebrows about today became clear just a few days later.

Limassol, like a proper transfer agent, sold Jovic for 6.6 million euros the same week, on deadline day 31 January. The new address thus truly reflected the talent that was hidden in the young striker. It was Benfica of Portugal.

In Portugal, only for a ‘B’ team

Jovic did not play a single game for Limassol, yet the club from the border between Europe and the Middle East earned more than three times the original price. Despite the high price tag for the 18-year-old, however, Jovic was forced to play in Portugal in Liga Portugal 2 for his new employer’s B team.

The first team that same winter was reinforced from Atlético Madrid by Raúl Jiménez, who helped leading scorer Konstantinos Mitroglio lead Benfica to the league title. A trophy that, despite his time mostly in the second team, Luka Jović can also boast.

However, for all the success of his more senior teammates, he also struggled shooting for the B team, adding just 2 goals in over 500 minutes in the lower division. The second year was even worse.

Jovic stayed in the reserve team, where, due to injury, he didn’t play much more than he did in the first six months. Shooting wise, he was only able to make up for his record with two more shots. His star, it seemed, was extinguished before he could shine.

Rescue from Frankfurt

Despite his woes, an offer came from Frankfurt. Eintracht gave Jovic the opportunity to prove his quality on a two-year loan. Together with the still 19-year-old Jović, Sébastien Haller from FC Utrecht moved above Mainz the same summer. Together, they complemented the already one-season guest Ante Rebić.

In their first year, the trio started slowly. Luka Jović alone did not even play 1000 minutes. However, he scored eight times. That was twice as many goals as in the last 18 months for Benfica’s ‘B’ team, in even fewer minutes and in more difficult competition.

But it was during the 18/19 season that this trio became one of the most effective attacking tridents in Europe. With a DFB-Pokal championship medal in his pocket, Frankfurt coach Niko Kovac left and his successor, Adi Hütter, found a way to get this trio on the turf together.

Luka Jovic played the season of his life alongside Rebić and Haller. 2246 minutes, 32 games, 17 goals and 6 assists in the Bundesliga, complemented by 10 shots in the Europa League, which Frankfurt had won a year earlier and where they reached the semi-finals.

Chelsea, the subsequent winners of the competition, needed as many as a penalty to beat their opponents. Jovic scored in the semi-final match and then, after a 1-1 draw, converted his penalty.

Alongside Hazard to Real

With such a successful season under his belt, Luka Jović has piqued the interest of Real Madrid. He moved to the Spanish capital alongside his mentor from the Europa League semi-final, Eden Hazard.

The Belgian winger and London Chelsea legend converted the decisive, fifth penalty. Tellingly, both transfers proved to be a fiasco, with Real Madrid spending more than €200 million on the trio of Jovic, Hazard & the now-visiting Reinier at Girona without getting anything in return.

The move to Madrid itself couldn’t have been straightforward either. Jovic transfers can’t be like that. Eintracht Frankfurt quite thoughtlessly exercised their buy-out clause on the permanently visiting Jović.

The deal between them and Benfica carried a price tag of €22 million. However, transfermarkt website at the time already valued the 21-year-old Jovic at 60 million, which was closer to the amount Real Madrid eventually paid.

1. thus, on July 2019, Jović officially became a player of Eintracht Frankfurt. In turn, on July 2, he was already donning the jersey of the White Ballet. Like Limassol before, Eintracht tripled its investment in a single week.

Or, it would have tripled, had it not been for an additional clause in the contract with Benfica, which secured the Portuguese club an additional €15 million thanks to a commission on future sales.

Calamity in Madrid

Luka Jovic was seen as a long-term replacement for the decade older Karim Benzema. Benzema was already 31 at the time of the Serbian’s arrival, so this line would make sense. However, Jovic fell short of expectations.

In his first year in Madrid, his situation was hampered by a couple of injuries, but also by the limited space coach Zidane gave the young striker at the expense of his compatriot, Karim Benzema.

The pandemic and the problems associated with it have also played their part. Jovic did not, one would insidiously like to write, prove to be the sharpest pencil in the pen when he flew to Serbia during the lockout and responded to criticism by saying that he had not been told to stay at home. Without having any ambition to make any judgements from one incident, this escapade did not only reflect well on the public but also within the club.

It was not, however, the last trouble with the coronavirus. Over the next two seasons, the Serbian striker was absent three times with the viral disease. Minor injuries began to add to the list, spoiling Jovic’s so far almost perfect injury record.

Frankfurt’s outstretched arm

During all the described troubles, Eintracht Frankfurt came to Jović’s rescue. For the second time, die Adler wanted to pull Jović out of a difficult situation. And for the second time it seemed like a very successful gamble.

Reinforcing his former club on a six-month loan in the middle of the 20/21 season, Jović scored immediately on his debut. And twice, into the Schalke net. He added a second goal two rounds later, in the Arminia Bielefeld goal, and all Madrid’s troubles seemed to be sparked.

But then the goal woes struck again. Throughout the rest of the season, including matches in the national jersey, the Serbian added a single goal to his collection.

The resignation of the White Ballet and the move to Italy

So Jovic returned to Madrid after an unsuccessful loan spell and the hardship continued. With the rare exception of a goalless misery characterised by limited opportunities, it resulted in a little-seen situation. Both parties agreed to void the existing contract.

While the player’s motivation may have been the vision of playing opportunities and restarting his career in a new location, Real Madrid were further unwilling to pay Jovic the large sums of money he had committed to after his transfer.

So, he rather accepted the 63million loss and let the still only 24-year-old Jovic leave for free to Fiorentina in the summer before the kickoff of this season. However, Antonin Barak’s new teammate did not come to Italy with any great reputation, as the Champions League winner’s medal and two La Liga and Spanish Cup championship awards would suggest.

The Italian club was therefore cautious in offering a contract. A contract of just two years, with the option to extend for two more seasons, suggests so.

However, Jovic has only opened the net four times in the Serie A so far. This time, however, he cannot blame a lack of opportunities on the pitch. Although he improves his record in the Conference League with six goals in eight games, which introduces reason for cautious optimism, Frankfurt remains the only place where the now still only 25-year-old Jovic has ever managed to actually score goals.

Sources: Transfermarkt, FotMob