OCT 19, 2018
At 20, becomes
the youngest player
to score five goals
in a Bundesliga
game as Eintracht
thrash Fortuna
Dusseldorf 7–1.MAR 14, 2019
Gets the only goal
in a 1-0 win over
Internazionale that
puts Eintracht
Frankfurt in the
quarter-finals of
the Europa League.MAR 20, 2019
Scores his first senior
international goal, in
a friendly against
Germany.APR 17, 2019
Eintracht Frankfurt
exercise an option to
make his loan move
permanent.JUN 4, 2019
Leaves Germany for
Real Madrid and
signs a six-year
contract.make excuses. “It was my fault,” he recalls.
“I didn’t behave so professionally. I have
to acknowledge that.”
It would all turn out so much better for
him on joining Bundesliga outfit Eintracht
Frankfurt on a 24-month loan deal in the
summer of 2017. He was much better
suited to the style of play in Germany
and found himself on very familiar
ground at Eintracht, a club brimming with
Balkan personnel. Sporting director Fredi
Bobic – the former Germany striker who
negotiated Jovic’s arrival – was born in
Slovenia, while coach Niko Kovac was a
long-serving Croat international, and over
the course of Jovic’s two seasons at the
Waldstadion there would be a host of
Serb and Croat team-mates to link up
with, including Ante Rebic, Filip Kostic
and Mijat Gacinovic.
However, he did not exactly hit the
ground running at Frankfurt, only making
a handful of starts in the first half of the
2017-18 season. But behind the scenes
Kovac was performing a fine impression
of the horse whisperer, demanding that
he be more dedicated, fitter and busy
on the pitch. The youngster, perhaps
chastened by his Benfica wipe-out,
proved a willing student and in the
“Spring Championship” he looked
increasingly sharp, scoring six Bundesliga
goals. Although still not a fully fledged
starter, he was clearly making progress.
Earlier this year, Luka’s father revealed
the nuts and bolts of Kovac’s motivational
methods to Bild newspaper, saying: “I
asked him [Kovac] if he was still counting
on my boy. I wanted to know if Lukawas anointed Red Star’s first-choice
striker and handed the number nine
jersey which used to belong to Djordje
Despotovic. It was a case of horses for
courses according to Red Star director
Zvezdan Terzic, who remembers: “I told
Despotovic that he was a good player
but that even if Robin Van Persie signed
here, the nine would still go to Jovic. He is
going to explode this season. He is going
to be the Serbian Radamel Falcao.”
World-class hyperbole maybe, but
it did undoubtedly heap unnecessary
pressure on the teenager, who over the
next 18 months, only accumulated 11
domestic league goals for Red Star.
During his formative years, he frequently
cited Falcao as a role model and, with the
benefit of hindsight, he admits such talk
made his task more complicated. “Being
likened to Falcao was not good for me.”
he explains. “Everyone was assuming
that I’d score three in every game.
Expectations soared, it was too much.”
To add to the problems caused by
hype, he also found himself the subject
of criminal intentions. In November 2015
his parents received a blackmail letter,
threatening to break Jovic’s legs if they
were not paid a substantial sum.
“Your son will only be able to play in a
wheelchair,” read the anonymous missive.
Fortunately, the extortionists were soon
brought to book.
By early 2016, Red Star were ready to
cash in. With the Belgrade club in dire
need of money, selling Jovic represented
the ideal economic fix and a deal was
struck with Portuguese giants Benfica.
Jovic says he cried for three days on
leaving the Marakana, Red Star’s iconic
home ground, but in truth the tears
flowed for far longer. In a season-and-
a-half at the Estadio da Luz he did not
begin a match in the Portuguese top
flight, only making the odd appearance
as a sub, and he did not score once.
His story at Benfica was one of mutual
misunderstanding. Neither the club
nor the young Serb could find any
common ground whatsoever. Jovic
felt disrespected almost from the off,
adamant that he deserved more than
a place on the Benfica B roster. The
club, for their part, were appalled by
his waywardness, lack of application in
training and nocturnal excesses. When
pencilled in for a rare first-team start,
he contrived to throw it away and was,
kicked off the squad after being caught
in a nightclub on the eve of the match.
Word has it that Benfica coach Rui
Vitoria finally gave up on him following a
bizarre incident in the autumn of 2016.
Decidedly short of front-line optionsafter his three main strikers – Raul
Jimenez, Kostas Mitroglou and Jonas –
all fell victim to injury, Vitoria had hoped
to take up the slack by selecting Jovic
for a league game. Then the annoying
newsflash: Jovic had damaged his foot
while playing in his swimming pool and
was likely to be out for four to five weeks.
The point of no return had been reached.
These were tough times for Jovic. He
was alone in a foreign land, barely had a
handle on the Portuguese language and
for the first time in his life he was not a
pecking-order untouchable. He ended
up all at sea, but to his credit he does notLuka Jovic
New start...playing for Real in pre-season against Bayern MunichPerfect...Eintracht
Frankfurt was an
ideal fit for the
striker“I think God gave me this talent and this flair for goalscoring.
I’ve always had this in me...in the box, I don’t think a lot about
where I should run. I would have to say it’s a matter of instinct”
Jovic