AC Milan managed to secure the addition of a centre-forward with minutes left on transfer deadline day, signing Luka Jovic on an initial one-year deal.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) recalls how Milan got to the last day of the mercato without a striker having arrived. Lorenzo Colombo went out on loan to Monza, and after various targets were linked it was Jovic who arrived.
Stefano Pioli is a coach and innovator, and with Luka Jovic he will also have to return as a psychologist and motivator. The Serbia international has always had talent, although it might take some time to get him back into physical shape.
For Pioli, athletic condition is crucial, as seen through the fact Samuel Chukwueze and Noah Okafor – who missed the USA friendlies – are not yet considered at the level of their team-mates.
The international break won’t be able to help as Jovic will join the rest of the squad only once he returns from commitments with the Serbian national team, having been called up for the double match against Hungary and Lithuania on 7 and 10 September.
Jovic began with Red Star’s academy making his debut at 16 years old, and he became the youngest player to score for them surpassing the previous record held by Dejan Stankovic.
In 2016 he went to Benfica and didn’t play much, but a move to Eintracht Frankfurt proved to be the right decision as he managed 38 goals in 75 appearances.
Real Madrid came in for him in the summer of 2019 and he went there for €60m. His experience in LaLiga didn’t go to plan and after a loan back to Frankfurt he went to Fiorentina, where he scored 13 goals in 50 games last season.
The move to Milan offers him the opportunity to get back on his feet and become a protagonist again. A back-up centre-forward was one of the transfer targets and Jovic was on the list, as said by Pioli himself.
He arrives as the deputy to Olivier Giroud but the hierarchies are flexible. There will even be the opportunity for him to take the starting spot, if he finds the same groove he did in Germany.
Very good signing of Jovic, I had expected him to be in Milan since 2020.