Player Focus: Jovetic Quickly Becoming Integral Player in Inter Revolution
Stevan Jovetic was 17 when he led Partizan out as captain for a friendly in Bolzano against Inter in the summer of 2007. His team lost. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored the only goal of the game. But amid all the star names Jovetic still caught the eye against the champions of Italy. Memorably he hit the post. La Gazzetta dello Sport called him “interesting” and in the days that followed, there was even talk of Inter considering making an offer.
Alas it didn’t materialise and a year later they watched him join Fiorentina instead. Mancini, however, would persist in following his progress. He wanted Jovetic at Man City after winning the Premier League in 2012. JoJo, however, had given Fiorentina his word that he would stay on the banks of the Arno for another season and when he finally did move to the Etihad the following summer Mancini had been sacked and replaced by Manuel Pellegrini.
Their stars finally aligned this July. Jovetic is now an Inter player and, eight years after first coming to his attention, gets to work under Mancini. He is already one of the major players of this team. Geoffrey Kondogbia’s arrival may have caused more excitement, but Jovetic’s brings greater confidence that Inter can make good on their word to be contenders again.
Seeing the No.8 was already taken by Rodrigo Palacio - “I’ve always adored that shirt. It was Mijatovic’s and Savicevic’s when I was little” - Jovetic initially decided on the 35, the number he wore at Partizan. But after Mateo Kovacic’s sale to Real Madrid, he changed his mind. Another more prestigious one had become available.
“I began to seriously think about asking for something that I’d never before had the courage to ask for in my life,” Jovetic told the pink. “I thought I’d at least give it a try. So that day I asked the team manager Andrea Romeo, club manager Deki Stankovic, who is like a big brother to me, and Javier Zanetti, if it would be possible for me to change shirt number. ‘The 10 is free, can I have it’? They gave it to me and my dreams came true.”
As with Paul Pogba requesting it at Juventus, this showed character and a willingness to take on responsibility from Jovetic. While Mancini insists he didn’t sign him to become a leader - “we bought Stevan for his goals and assists” - he has quickly emerged as one.
When Mauro Icardi hobbled off after quarter of an hour of Inter’s opening game of the season against Atalanta, the team lost its Capocannoniere and, with memories of a worrying pre-season still fresh, fans at San Siro could be forgiven for wondering how their team was going to win this encounter. Jovetic came on for the Argentine and did just that deep into stoppage time. His curling shot from outside the box brought the house down. Mancini let his emotions get the better of him and dashed down the touchline to celebrate with his players. Jovetic’s first ever goal in Serie A had also come against the same opponent. “It’s a nice coincidence,” he said.
A week later, with Icardi still out, he took Inter on his shoulders again, scoring a scrappy opener against Carpi and once again clinched victory late from the penalty spot. “I could never have imagined making such a great start,” he told Mediaset. In the last 20 years, only the Emperor Adriano has managed to score three times in Inter’s first two games of the season and that was because he hit a hat-trick in one of them. It has been beyond the other No.10s of that era: Benito Carbone, Ronaldo, Roby Baggio, Clarence Seedorf, Domenico Morfeo, Wesley Sneijder and Kovacic.
If you count Jovetic’s last appearance at Fiorentina, he has now found the back of the net three games running in Serie A. His conversion rate stands at 50% and he is averaging a goal every 55 minutes. It’s early days, a tiny sample size and we shouldn’t expect him to maintain such levels over the course of the season. But the impression that, in Italy at least, Inter have acquired a sure thing, a player approaching full maturity only deepens further. Jovetic, still only 25, got into double figures in his last two seasons in Serie A with Fiorentina. Include goals in all competitions and he did it in three of the five he spent in Florence and one of those was missed entirely through injury.
Classed as a nine and a half, JoJo laid on 16 assists in his first spell in the league too. He didn’t get anywhere near as much game time at City and left the Etihad with just eight Premier League goals in two years. But that statistic should be considered in the light of only 11 starts. His ratio was actually pretty respectable. Jovetic scored one every 143 minutes. Why then didn’t he get to play more at City? Was he really made of glass?
“It became fashionable to say: ‘Jovetic is always injured’,” he lamented. Jovetic doesn’t dispute he had issues with his fitness. Transfermarkt data has him missing 175 days and 35 games with muscle strains. But “we need to clear this up,” he said. “It doesn’t make me too angry, nor does it bother me, but it has to be cleared up. I had problems in Manchester, I can’t deny it. But I didn’t play even when I was in good shape. Excellent shape even.”
After scoring in one game he recalls paying a visit to Pellegrini’s office to ask him for a run of three or four games in the team. “It didn’t happen. I didn’t even play the following game, so…” He holds nothing against City. Jovetic thanked the club, its staff and its fans. After Sunday’s game he told Mediaset that, in addition to enjoying Inter’s promising start, it pleased him to see City going well too. “If I saw Pellegrini again I would say: ‘Hi’. I needed that experience too… It toughened me up. I learned a lot from the great players that I found at City. I learned from my mistakes too and the things I did well. I’m more composed and sure of myself in front of goal. It’s true, in the past at Fiorentina I needed to become more clinical in front of goal. You grow up. You find greater confidence.”
Assured of a first team place week-in, week-out, Jovetic is certainly playing with it now. From his interviews, it’s clear that he is on the same page as Mancini. Jovetic even used his unveiling to ask the club to keep on making new signings. They didn’t disappoint. Inter brought in another three on deadline day alone, doing deals for left-back Alex Telles, pitbull Felipe Melo and his former Fiorentina teammate Adem Ljajic. If they can all come together fast, Inter could win the Scudetto for the first time since they did the treble. So far they’re on maximum points and without particularly convincing either. If they are it’s down to the new centre-back pairing of Jeison Murillo and Miranda and the ruthlessness in front of goal from Jovetic. Just imagine what the team might be capable of once it starts playing well.
With Icardi, Jovetic, Palacio, Ivan Perisic and now Ljajic, Inter’s offensive potential is quite formidable. “I am not going to say the S word,” Jovetic insisted. “All I’ll say is that in addition to Juventus and Roma we’re a candidate [for the Scudetto] too. Napoli, Fiorentina, Milan and Lazio are as well. What I will say is that we can finish third because we’ve got the strength to do it.” Of that there is no doubt. And just as Andrea Pirlo turned out to be for Juventus four years ago, Inter fans are hopeful, just as Romanisti are about Jovetic’s former Man City teammate Edin Dzeko at Roma, that he could well be the hinge on which the balance of power swings in Italy.
Can Jovetic fire Inter to a title challenge this season? Let us know in the comments below
