Manchester City forward Stevan Jovetic faces an uncertain future following the arrival of Wilfried Bony in January from Swansea.
His arrival has seen Jovetic being left out of City’s Champions League squad and now he is facing an uncertain future at the club.
Jovetic is happy to wait till the summer to check how the future pans out before taking any final decision. He said as quoted by The Mirror:
“I deserve to play in the Champions League. I know that. The manager has killed me with this decision.
“I have not made any decision about my future. I will wait until the summer then we will see. But the manager has put other players ahead of me, so maybe this is a message about what he wants to do.”
Pellegrini (should he continue) usually deploys a one-striker formation, and with City having an avalanche of forwards (Aguero, Dzeko, Bony) – the club’s least favoured strike option, Jovetic, could be looking to leave the club in summer.
It is practically impossible for Pellegrini to keep all of his four strikers happy at the same time as all of them are talented enough to play regularly.
Liverpool must capitalise on this opportunity and go all out for Jovetic in the summer.
The Reds may need to bolster their attacking department and Jovetic will fit the bill easily. Furthermore, Liverpool may sell strike duo Fabio Borini and Rickie Lambert which would free up the space for a new arrival.
Liverpool were heavily linked with a move for Bony in the summer, but the deal somehow didn’t materialise. Bony went on to play a huge role for Swansea, scoring 10 goals for them this season before joining City in January.
The Reds in turn shelled out £16m for Mario Balotelli but the Italian striker has had cut a frustrating figure at the club.
As a result there had been lots of speculation on his future with several media outlets even speculated that he could make a shock return to Italy following his miserable spell at Anfield.
Things can change quickly as Balotelli has hinted of returning back to his old form by scoring the winner against Tottenham Hotspur and providing an assist against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup.
Without paying too much heed to Balotelli’s future at the moment, Liverpool still need another good forward/striker in the summer, and the Montenegrin striker could be an ideal fit.
Jovetic joined City for a reported fee of £22m in the summer of 2013. He came with a lot of promise, after a phenomenal spell at Fiorentina, but an injury plagued first season prevented him from making any strong impact for the team, managing only bit-part roles.
This season isn’t much different than the previous one for him with Pellegrini opting for Aguero to take the central striker role while other forwards are merely left to warm to bench and fill up the gap in his absence.
Despite making only nine starts this season, Jovetic has scored five goals, with further two assists to his name.
I wrote a scouting report on Jovetic when he joined City. You can read the full article here. I put here some excerpts to showcase his playing style:
The 23-year-old is class apart in his own right. He can dribble, has a poacher instinct, possess eye for passes, superb in link-up plays, excellent in positioning (read as tactical awareness) and can shoot from long range too – a dream signing for any manager. Jovetic can primary play as a striker too, but his best position is the classic no10, just behind the main striker.
Because, of this versatility and his ability to adapt to the need of the game, Jovetic is so highly rated in entire Europe. The Montenegrin is often compared to the likes of Italian striker Roberto Baggio and Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola, while his former national team boss Dejan Savicevic claimed that he reminds him of the legendary Johan Cruyff.
It has to be remembered that he is not a 25-goal-scorer man. Hitherto, he has never achieved that feat in his life. In his last two seasons, he has managed only 14 and 13 goals respectively. But, it will be ludicrous to judge his ability solely on the basis of the number of goals scored, as Jovetic is much more than just a goal scorer – he brings a lot more to the game, with his overall contribution.
Jovetic showed his class in City’s 3-1 win over Liverpool early this season. Should Liverpool sign him, they would get a multi-talented player who would fit seamlessly fit into Rodgers’s system.
Probably he needs to work a bit on his defensive aspects, then again, it is also a manager’s responsibility to find a way to get the best out of any player. Daniel Sturridge doesn’t contribute enough defensively but he covers it up with his other qualities.
Jovetic is only 25 and has yet to reach the peak of his career. He is a much better player than what we have seen so far at City.
Liverpool should take the risk and try to add him in the summer. He could be a real asset for the Reds, if he is taken well care of.
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