His move to Real Madrid has thrown Luka Jovic off track. The 24-year-old has now seen that, and has now criticized the timing of this transfer himself.
In the summer of 2019, Luka Jovic decided to leave Frankfurt. He had just finished a season with 27 goals and seven direct assists in all competitions when he felt it was time to make a big career move. Accordingly, the then 21-year-old joined Real. The Madrilenians transferred just over 60 million euros to the Main.
Disillusionment followed promptly: Jovic neither played regularly at Real nor was he able to build on his previous performances. It doesn’t take much to go into details to say the move was a flop – for both parties.
He finally closed the Madrid chapter last summer. Since then he has played for Fiorentina in Italy. So far he has scored six goals. For comparison: For Real he was able to celebrate a total of three competitive goals.
Although he now describes his time at Los Blancos as “a great experience”, he is aware that he “joined Real too early”. He explained that (in essence) to the Outlet ATV BL.
“I think I went to Real too early and the moment I arrived and while I was at Real, Karim Benzema exploded and [last] deservedly won the Ballon d’Or,” he said of an unfortunate one time back.
Jovic continues: “In the beginning I was unlucky. First Corona happened, then some injuries. But it was definitely a great experience for me.” He simply “reached the biggest club in the world, although I didn’t think it was possible”. Even if it didn’t pay off in the end, every footballer has such a dream.
This article was originally published on 90min.com as Jovic reflects self-critically: ‘I went to Real Madrid too soon’.