If you’re a regular watcher of Italian football this name will be instantly familiar to you. However, Liverpool aside, there will be plenty of fans in England and across the globe, who haven’t heard of the young Montenegrin.
The Merseyside club may remember Jovetic, whose antics tore their team apart as Fiorentina beat them 2-0 in a Champions League encounter back in September 2009. To those who have not heard of him, remember the name. He’ll be around for a long time to come.
His main attributes include fantastic technical ability, great dribbling skills, as well as having a great finish, which has been on show in the early stages of this season. His two goals against Catania last weekend were straight from the top drawer. His equalizing goal against Juventus on Tuesday wasn’t too bad either. This brings his season tally to five goals and two assists in eight games. Not bad at all.
Considering the fact he’s just short of his 22nd birthday this looks even better, and the wealth of first-team experience he has already gained shows how much faith managers have in him. Given a first-team debut by Jürgen Röber for Partizan Belgrade in the 2005/2006 season, at the tender age of sixteen, is where it all began for the curly haired one.
The following season he scored four goals in twenty-six appearances, and captained Montenegro Under 21’s at the age of seventeen. It was the 2007/2008 campaign where Jovetic hit it off. Here, he scored nineteen goals in thirty-three games, including four goals in Europe, which put Europe’s top clubs on alert.
Fiorentina got there first, the Viola paying a reported €8 million for his services. Jovetic had a quiet start to life in Italy, scoring just two goals in thirty four games. During this period, he appeared several times for the Montenegrin senior national team, staking his claim as a starter and cementing his place in the first team. Disaster struck just prior the 2009/2010 season, during pre-season training Jovetic suffered a cruciate ligament injury to his right knee, which kept him out for the whole season.
There were concerns as to whether he would be the same player when he returned from injury, but his record this season has allayed such fears. Since returning from such a long spell on the sidelines, he has been on absolute fire. The Florentine side tied him down to a five year contract two weeks ago, although this will do little to ward off interest in the extremely talented forward.
Many Fiorentina fans have labelled him as the next Roberto Baggio, and why not? He’s got the hair, and certainly has the talent. As one of the best young players in Europe, the sky is the limit for Mr Jovetic. It would be interesting to see how he would perform if signed for a top club, but that’s for fate to decide.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he spent a long time at Fiorentina, he seems to be a footballer who just enjoys playing and one who certainly doesn’t lack humility, which is more than can be said for a lot of today’s footballers. Yes, Mr Tevez, I’m referring to you.
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