Jovetic Ready To Make His Mark At City
Personal information
Full name: Stevan Jovetic
Date of birth: 2 November 1989
Age: 24
Place of birth: Titograd, SFR Yugoslavia
Height: 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position: Forward
Club information
Current team: Manchester City
Number: 35
Youth career
Mladost Podgorica
2004–2006: Partizan
Senior career
2006–2008 Partizan 61 Appearances, 23 goals
2008–2013 Fiorentina 134 Appearances, 40 goals
2013– Manchester City 16 Appearances, 6 goals
National team
2007–2010 Montenegro U21 7 Appearances, 2 goals
2007– Montenegro 30 Appearances, 12 goals
It has been a pre-season of note for Man City’s Stevan Jovetic, who looks fit and ready to lead his team to Premier League glory after a season plagued by inconsistency due to injury.
Manchester City rolled into the United States to contest an annual pre-season tournament – the International Champions Cup.
Results and performances are misleading of course at this time of year and should be treated with extreme caution but amidst the many notable displays in their 5-1 win over Milan and 2-2 draw with Liverpool (reprising a similar thumping last pre-season) was that of Stevan Jovetic.
Jovetic has had quite the run this pre-season, largely by virtue of being one of only two fit senior striker of note available.
Stevan Jovetic joined City from Fiorentina in July 2013. The 24-year-old Montenegro international joined the Citizens after attracting the interest of many of Europe’s top clubs over the past two years.
Something of a teenage sensation when he first broke into senior football with Partizan Belgrade, he made club history by captaining the team aged only 17.
He scored 23 goals in 61 games for the Serbian giants before moving to Italy in 2008 for a fee in the region of £8m, and spent three seasons in Serie A with La Viola becoming a firm favourite with the Fiorentina supporters.
His five seasons in Florence yielded 40 goals from 134 appearances, helping his new employers to Champions League qualification for the first time in a decade, though a crucial ligament injury meant he missed the entire 2010/11 campaign.
In Europe, he has scored against Liverpool and Bayern Munich during Champions League matches, while he also captained his country aged only 17 at Under-21 level after taking the armband of his idol Marko Vucinic.
He has since represented the senior Montenegro side on 27 occasions, making his debut against Hungary in 2007 and has scored 10 goals to date. Jovetic is utterly fearless and doesn’t seem to have a limit to his potential.
For those who missed Jovetic’s debut season in 2012-13, well, you didn’t miss a great deal. The striker struggled with fitness last season, making just two starts in the league after arriving from Fiorentina. Arriving possessing a great pedigree from Fiorentina he couldn’t quite get himself fit in pre-season, which then led into the season itself.
There were even reports that he may be a player sacrificed as a result of Financial Fair Play limits on the size of City’s squad, which were dismissed by Pellegrini. Down the final stretch of the season though, Jovetic returned.
This was also a time when City’s forward line was depleted. He was used as a bit part player but was effective nonetheless, principally from the bench when he was able to capitalise on tiring defences.
Despite a lack of match action last season, Jovetic still demonstrated his potential by scoring six goals in 16 appearances in all competitions. Amidst a plethora of creative talents, Jovetic has a direct air about him but possesses wonderfully quick feet which allow him to create space to shoot – something he is not shy in doing.
Witness his brace against AC Milan and then another two against Liverpool. His goals were taken quickly and effectively; hinting at him being as much a finisher as he is a creator.
Having finally achieved fitness at the tail end of 2013-14 he has been able to fully participate in pre-season which should, in turn, benefit his longer term fitness. Jovetic appears ready to show that he can be a viable option.
With Alvaro Negredo ruled out for up to two months with a broken bone in his foot and Sergio Aguero and Eden Dzeko struggling for fitness after the World Cup, City will be relying on Jovetic for goals when they kick off the new campaign against Arsenal in the Community Shield on Sunday.