I agree about Juve being his desired destination, but I think it's more about English clubs willing to offer more money to Fiorentina.
Stevan Jovetic
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I agree about Juve being his desired destination, but I think it's more about English clubs willing to offer more money to Fiorentina.
Having 2 different cruciate ligament injuries at his young age is a big worry IMO, paying that sort of money for somebody 1 injury away from retirement is pretty risky.
Sure he might not be injured ever again, but its certainly something to consider.
Fiorentina are asking for 30 million from Juve which is about 5-6 million more than what the English clubs are supposed to be offering.
Yeah you should never sign a striker with lots of injury troubles. Look at RVP
To be fair, ACL's are an entirely different matter. You can never fully recover from one, and everytime you tear it, the next time you come back your chances of reinjury increase dramatically.
So Ruud Van Nistelrooy never recovered from his? What a player he could have been then!!
Yes. Maybe he would have won us more trophies had he not injured the knee prior to joining us. Probably would have been a pacier player too.
If you have to sell to someone in your own league might as well make them pay a premium.
Chelsea bound, Times reckons. See Rory Smith's twitter feed.
Player Focus: Why Ljajic is a Better Option than Jovetic
by Martin Laurence at Monday, Jul 8 2013 16:00Share on twitter Share on facebook Share on digg Share on reddit Share on stumbleupon 2
Maybe a punch in the face was just what was required where Adem Ljajic is concerned. The former Partizan prospect appeared to be stagnating somewhat at Fiornetina before former coach Delio Rossi took offence to some sarcastic applause from the young Serbian.
Here is a player who was on the cusp of signing for Manchester United back in 2010, only for the Red Devils to pull the plug on a deal, and at the time it seemed as though Ferguson may have made a good call.
Rossi had substituted Ljajic just half an hour into a home game against Novara, with the side trailing 2-0, and the forward clearly felt that he had been credited with the blame. The mildly comical incident in which Rossi practically fell into the dugout below to launch an attack on Ljajic saw the coach sacked, and in turn it has not only proved to be a blessing for the player on the end of a couple of flailing blows but also the club as a whole.
Since then Vincenzo Montella has transformed the Viola into many a neutral's favourite side in Serie A, nurturing Ljajic where Mihajlovic and, to a much more obvious extent, Delio Rossi had seemingly failed.
After Ljajic's progression last season, Partizan Director of Football Ivan Tomic's claim that United would regret their decision not to sign the youngster is a prediction that may well have come to pass. The Manchester club have since been mooted with a return interest in the 21-year old, but it is AC Milan who appear to be at the front of an ever-lengthening queue for a player whose contract is up next summer.
Rossonerri vice-president Adriano Galliani told Sky Italia "He could become our target, but in this moment he's a player with a contract". However, if Milan are waiting for his deal to expire before firming up their interest they risk losing out on a player who will no doubt have attracted glances from further afield. In addition, while the spotlight is elsewhere, now may well be the best time for prospective suitors to strike.
The lion's share of speculation in Florence has revolved around fellow forward Stevan Jovetic, but while the Montenegrin was somewhat faltering as the previous campaign drew to a close it was Ljajic who shone brightest as Fiorentina looked, and ultimately failed, to secure Champions League football.
The Serbian international netted 7 goals in his final 9 Serie A appearances of the season, as well as picking up 4 assists in that time. Such exploits took his respective tallies to 11 and 8 for the campaign and ensured that he would, albeit in the shadow of Jovetic, be in the shop window this summer.
With the signing of Mario Gomez completed, the chances that one or the other may leave the club have surely increased and the stats suggest that Ljajic could be a better, and significantly cheaper option for potential buyers.
Comparisons can certainly be drawn between Jovetic and Ljajic in that both are very confident in their own ability. With the former attempting 3.6 shots per game and the latter 3, both rank among the league's eleven most frequent shooters in that sense. However, when considering that seven of Ljajic's 28 league appearances came from the bench the tables turn somewhat.
The 21-year old averaged just under 20 minutes per shot - ranking 4th in Serie A of players with at least 20 appearances last season - while Jovetic (7th) had one every 22. Elsewhere Ljajic scored every 148 minutes of playing time on average compared to his more hotly pursued teammate's 194.
Both fired away a large number of shots, and could both be considered a little greedy in front of goal at times, with modest figures of 13.2% (Ljajic) and 11.5% (Jovetic) in terms of conversion rates proving that they sometimes attempted the overly ambitious.
Ljajic can, like Jovetic, play as a second striker or from the left flank and his ability with the ball at his feet is clear. His footwork is very good and he possesses good pace and upper body strength, helping him work his way to the byline, attempting 5 pull-backs over the course of the season. Meanwhile, it's Jovetic (2.1 to 1.7) who comes out on top for dribbles per game, but again when looking at minutes per dribble the younger of the two outdoes his teammate (35 to 38), ranking 14th in Serie A in the process.
Ljajic is again superior in terms of minutes per key pass (37 to 46), ranking 11th in Serie A, and fares even better in terms of minutes per assist (203 to 504), with his figure only bettered by Andrea Cossu of players to appear at least 20 times in Italy's top-flight last season.
With all that in mind, and only a year left on his current contract, it seems somewhat of a mystery why all the hype surrounds Jovetic and not Ljajic, whose WhoScored rating since the turn of the year averaged out at an exceptional 7.53.
Nevertheless, many feel that Fiorentina could become Juve’s closest title challengers next season and to do that they have to keep their best players. He may have only started 21 games last season, but Ljajic is certainly emerging as one of those.
Its starting. We're in for a bumpy ride
Not sure either are any better than what we have
With attacking midfielders like Kagawa, Rooney, Thiago (wink)
With attacking midfielders like Kagawa, Rooney, Thiago (wink)
Still remember Jovetic absolutely destroying Liverpool in a champions league tie many moons ago.
United linked to Jovetic again according to the tabloids
Thiago going to Bayern, Strootman to Roma (I think), so papers have to find us a new target
Haven't seen enough of him, but he has got a great reputation as a talented player. I just want to see him in the premier league, if it's not on a rival team, that's even better
Haven't seen enough of him, but he has got a great reputation as a talented player. I just want to see him in the premier league, if it's not on a rival team, that's even better
I see him only as a Rooney alternative. Can play in the hole or as the main striker
He was linked with us on Thursday. Have we been in a Thiago bubble?
Both, but the hole is best he was not as his best this past season. Fiorentina improved but he was better in the 11-12 season.
Yeah but he did pick up some injuries last year, despite that though when he did play he was good. Ljajic looks like he is going to Milan, and I think Jovetic will be leaving also. Will be interesting to see how Montella recovers their squad after that. Fiorentina for my money played some of the best football last season from all the leagues that I watched. breath of fresh air.
That is true. Sometimes he was a bit mehhh for me but he has had to battle injury. They signed Gomez so they just need somebody to play in behind him I would assume. I agree they played very good football.
Times are suggesting City in best position to sign him. Will have to pay £30 million though.....very steep but he is extremely talented.
I've thought that Jovetic has been going to City for nearly 2 years now. Might have to put some money on it.
Manuel suggested that they will probably announce a new signing in the next 24 hours. I guess that's Jovetic.
Negrado more likely.
Yes they are wide players, but all of those players will want enough game time throughout the season. And we can only play 4 of them at a time, so it should factor on any decision Moyes makes
So we've been linked to Jovetic, despite not needing him in any way, shape or form.
He's only 23. Seems like he's been around for ages.
Rooney replacement?
Well, many had doubts about the need for RVP....
But I do not agree with this link. Jovetic is a bit too laid back for my taste.
That's what a few posters have suggested. If Rooney's leaving, then sure. But if not, it'd be total overkill. To be honest though, if we sold Rooney, I don't believe we need to directly replace him - I'd hope that Kagawa and Welbeck would step up to the plate.
I really hope the club are working hard to sort the midfield issue more than anything.
True. But we are really stacked out in the final third, even if Rooney goes. For me, I'd prefer us to realign our squad if we were to sell Rooney by pumping the cash into a deal for a big central midfielder.
I'm not saying it's what I'd do, I'm just saying that's the only way I see us being interested, if Rooney is off.
Unless we have plans to play a 3 up top with wide forwards, which Jovetic can play.
If we were to sell Rooney it wouldn't be a bad deal to replace him with Jovetic. I'd be hoping that Kagawa plays more though, possibly operating next to Jovetic and a classic winger (preferably Nani with a new contract) behind van Persie's back.
Yeah this is how I feel too, with Hernandez as well as Kagawa/Welbeck getting the chance to replace Rooney.
Nor one that would work particularly well in a team with only three midfielders. They'd all have to play 50+ games in a season for that to make sense.
Yep. Hernandez only made 22 league appearances last season, Welbeck 26 and Kagawa 20. All three have scope to step up if Rooney leaves.
Yep. And with Cleverley's and Anderson's fitness and consistency issues, it'd be nigh on impossible.
Hernandez should be replacing van Persie in the first team more often, the latter needs some rest at 30 if we want to maximise the amount of years of good form he's going to give us. As for Welbeck, in a 4231 system he could easily fit in behind the forward or on the flanks which is where I see him long term, he's not clinical enough to be the man up front.
He might sign some midfielders too.
I've no idea if we're interested, and if we are, where he'd play. I've simply suggested a couple of possible options.
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