‘Goal-machine’ Luka Jovic has been backed to recover from his Real Madrid nightmare by former teammate Filip Kostic, while speaking to Blic, amid links with Arsenal, Leicester City and Newcastle United.
The phrase ‘too much, too soon’ comes to mind.
Serbian sensation Jovic exploded on to the scene with 27 goals during a remarkable breakthrough campaign with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2018/19, including five in a 7-1 shellacking of Fortuna Dusseldorf.
But he is struggling to shake off that ‘one season wonder’ tag since a £63 million move to the Santiago Bernabeu.
Then again, bigger and better players than Jovic have flopped in front of perhaps the most demanding crowd in European football. Well, demanding is one way of putting it.
There are other words for a fan base who once whistled Cristiano Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane.
Either way, after just four La Liga starts and two goals, all the signs are pointing to an immediate exit for Jovic, with Star suggesting that Real Madrid would now accept a vastly reduced fee of £31 million.
A Leicester side overly reliant on the brilliant yet now 33-year-old Jamie Vardy are keen, although their failure to secure Champions League football could be fatal to their hopes.
But, given the choice, Frankfurt forward Kostic would jump at the chance to welcome his former sparring-partner back to familiar surroundings.
“Of course I miss him,” Jovic’s fello Serb says.
“Luka turned every cross into a goal. But I think that the upcoming season will be much better for him, because he is a goal machine!”
The Shields Gazette suggest that a shot-shy Newcastle side could offer Jovic a fresh start in England, while Arsenal have been tipped to sign him on loan via the Star.
Apparently, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta thinks the 6ft Jovic could bring some physicality to a team that scored just five headed goals in 2019/20.
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