Real Madrid need to trust Luka Jovic

Real Madrid head into a crucial season after signing several players in the summer, and Luka Jovic is one of those new young standouts who needs the full support of the organization.

The 2018-2019 season was one to forget for Real Madrid fans. Not only did the team falter in the Champions League after previously being the most dominant team in the competition, but they also finished third in La Liga. Only Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior seemed to show up in the attack, as several veteran players suffered disappointing seasons on a squad that desperately needed an injection of youth.

Former Eintracht Frankfurt striker Luka Jovic is one of those young players who can make a difference for Madrid in 2019-2020, but he’s already been mired in loan rumors, which claim that mercurial manager Zinedine Zidane is unsure if Jovic is ready to contribute to Madrid.

Jovic has laughed off those rumors, and it would be even more reassuring if Zidane did the same. After all, Zidane loaned his best midfielder, Dani Ceballos, to Arsenal, waged a media battle with Gareth Bale, and seems to have a hot-and-cold (at best) relationship with James Rodriguez.

In short, Zidane is unpredictable, impossible to understand, and seems to be critical of talented players on a whim.

Real Madrid isn’t an easy place for a young attacking player to succeed. The weight of expectations creates an immense amount of pressure, even as handsome rewards await the forward who can find their footing at the Bernabeu.

Jovic is a player with the potential to be a world-class No. 9 at Madrid for years to come. Just 21, Jovic is a two-footed, technically-prolific striker who bagged 25 goals in 40 appearances in all competitions for Frankfurt last season. This was while sharing goals with Ante Rebic and Sebastien Haller, so his upside in a Real squad with a better midfield is easy to see.

Though Real is Benzema’s attack to lead for the foreseeable future, his time at the top of Los Blancos’ formation could be cut short by a string of highly impressive performances from Jovic, who set the Bundesliga alight last season.

The issue is if Real is ready to stand by Jovic and trust him with significant minutes in his first season. They paid 60 million euros for him, suggesting they see the world-class ability that the majority of fans do. But whether or not they’re willing to translate that into minutes on the pitch remains to be seen, especially in light of these bizarre loan rumors.

There’s probably nothing to the rumors, as Jovic himself said, but they are concerning in the sense that they indicate a possible lack of trust. Hopefully, that isn’t the case, because Jovic has a lot to give to a team that had only one real goal-scoring option in Benzema last season.

And with Benzema getting older and Mariano Diaz potentially on his way to Milan or Monaco just one year after a lucrative transfer to Real, Jovic’s importance as a possible 20-goal striker has only increased. Real would be crazy to even entertain the idea of loaning him, whereas they would be wise to integrate him into the lineup as Benzema’s eventual successor. They can’t afford to make the same mistakes they did with Mariano last season.