Will the real Milan Jovanovic please stand up?
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Uncertainty is currently the watchword at Anfield. Question marks remain over the financial future of Liverpool, with owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett keen to offload the club but thus far failing to find serious buyers. Similarly, after this season’s disappointments on the pitch, the position of manager Rafa Benitez has come under scrutiny.
How fitting, then, that one of the club’s first signings of the summer is also something of a mystery to many football followers in the UK. When Liverpool announced back in February that Standard Liège striker Milan Jovanovic would be joining on a free transfer after the 2010 World Cup, reactions were perhaps less “wow†and more “who?â€.
In the months since the English media have attempted – in many cases very ably – to provide Liverpool fans with an insight into the player’s talents. Belgian Footballer of the Year in 2008, Belgian Golden Shoe winner in 2009 and top scorer for Serbia as they qualified for South Africa, Jovanovic’s recent achievements are worthy of acclaim. Those who suggest that trophies in Belgium prove nothing as far as Premier League quality is concerned forget the performances of Marouane Fellaini and Vincent Kompany since their arrival in England.
Jovanovic also leaves Liège to the acclaim of the Standard’s fans and the Belgian press – so much so, indeed, that Belgian novelist Étienne Éthaire has published a book, Jovanovic, La vie en rouche, in praise of the striker’s exploits. “Without Jovanovic, would Standard have been champions in 2008 and 2009?†asks Éthaire in the book’s introduction. “I think not.â€
So far, so good then.
There are a couple of potential black marks on his record. Jovanovic is by all accounts a rather controversial character. Dressing-room bust-ups and a willingness to mark himself out from the crowd (he was the only Standard player to publicly speak out against Axel Witsel after his horror challenge on Marcin Wasilewski in August 2009) suggest a man who is prepared to go it alone.
Moreover, no sooner had Jovanovic rubber-stamped his move to Liverpool than he went and spoiled it all – largely unnoticed at Anfield – by immediately touting himself for a move to Greece. “The Greeks and the Serbs get on well,†he told Het Nieuwsblad in March. “I’m thinking about returning to Greece when I’m 31 or 32. Olympiakos or Panathinaikos will certainly give me a contract.â€
But the obvious question marks over Jovanovic’s suitability at Liverpool concern one particular period in his career, which has yet to be explored by the vast majority of analyses. Between 2003 and 2006 the Serb spent a season in Ukraine with Shakhtar Donetsk and two at Russian Premier League side Lokomotiv Moscow. In those three seasons he made a total of nine league appearances, scoring just once. What should we make of these ‘lost’ years of Jovanovic’s career?
It ought to be said that a transfer to Eastern Europe, even given Jovanovic’s Slavic roots and the linguistic similarities of Serbian, Ukrainian and Russian, is no easy move. Just ask Birmingham’s Garry O’Connor, who endured a single torrid season as Jovanovic’s replacement at Lokomotiv Moscow in 2006/07.
Then there were the injuries. One in particular, sustained just after having made his debut for Shakhtar, kept him sidelined for nearly a year. Likewise having signed for Lokomotiv, he missed pre-season after sustaining an Achilles injury and thereafter struggled to get into the side. On the treatment for the latter injury Jovanovic commented in an interview for Russian newspaper Sport Express: “The first time, the doctor pressed down on my Achilles with such force that my scream could be heard all along Kutuzovsky Prospekt [a street in Moscow].â€
But then, as these interview comments perhaps suggest, Jovanovic is also rather an interesting character. In a frank interview in Russia in 2005 the player admitted that football was less a way of earning money for him, and more a “method of self-expressionâ€.
“I earn money through my businesses. Football is for my soul,†he explained. “In brief, my business is connected with property and the sale of automobiles.†He then smilingly asked the interviewer if he wanted to buy a car, as Jovanovic would be happy to give him a 20% discount.
While such a sense of humour – never mind the option for discounted cars – might go down well on Merseyside, in Russia Jovanovic’s comments were met with scepticism, particularly given how few times he had appeared on the pitch. The rumour, perhaps uncharitably, was that Jovanovic had no reason to be fit and motivated to play football, as he could rely on earnings from his businesses for financial support.
Safe to say that his departure to Standard Liège in the summer of 2006 was met with sighs of relief around Moscow.
Now, though, with his exploits for Standard and his transfer to Anfield hitting the headlines, those in Russia and Ukraine can only rub their eyes in disbelief at the transformation of a man who seemed neither fit nor able enough to make it ‘big’ only five years ago.
The question remains – scorer or sulk: who is the real Milan Jovanovic? Either way, we’ll find out in the coming season.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Uncertainty is currently the watchword at Anfield. Question marks remain over the financial future of Liverpool, with owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett keen to offload the club but thus far failing to find serious buyers. Similarly, after this season’s disappointments on the pitch, the position of manager Rafa Benitez has come under scrutiny.
How fitting, then, that one of the club’s first signings of the summer is also something of a mystery to many football followers in the UK. When Liverpool announced back in February that Standard Liège striker Milan Jovanovic would be joining on a free transfer after the 2010 World Cup, reactions were perhaps less “wow†and more “who?â€.
In the months since the English media have attempted – in many cases very ably – to provide Liverpool fans with an insight into the player’s talents. Belgian Footballer of the Year in 2008, Belgian Golden Shoe winner in 2009 and top scorer for Serbia as they qualified for South Africa, Jovanovic’s recent achievements are worthy of acclaim. Those who suggest that trophies in Belgium prove nothing as far as Premier League quality is concerned forget the performances of Marouane Fellaini and Vincent Kompany since their arrival in England.
Jovanovic also leaves Liège to the acclaim of the Standard’s fans and the Belgian press – so much so, indeed, that Belgian novelist Étienne Éthaire has published a book, Jovanovic, La vie en rouche, in praise of the striker’s exploits. “Without Jovanovic, would Standard have been champions in 2008 and 2009?†asks Éthaire in the book’s introduction. “I think not.â€
So far, so good then.
There are a couple of potential black marks on his record. Jovanovic is by all accounts a rather controversial character. Dressing-room bust-ups and a willingness to mark himself out from the crowd (he was the only Standard player to publicly speak out against Axel Witsel after his horror challenge on Marcin Wasilewski in August 2009) suggest a man who is prepared to go it alone.
Moreover, no sooner had Jovanovic rubber-stamped his move to Liverpool than he went and spoiled it all – largely unnoticed at Anfield – by immediately touting himself for a move to Greece. “The Greeks and the Serbs get on well,†he told Het Nieuwsblad in March. “I’m thinking about returning to Greece when I’m 31 or 32. Olympiakos or Panathinaikos will certainly give me a contract.â€
But the obvious question marks over Jovanovic’s suitability at Liverpool concern one particular period in his career, which has yet to be explored by the vast majority of analyses. Between 2003 and 2006 the Serb spent a season in Ukraine with Shakhtar Donetsk and two at Russian Premier League side Lokomotiv Moscow. In those three seasons he made a total of nine league appearances, scoring just once. What should we make of these ‘lost’ years of Jovanovic’s career?
It ought to be said that a transfer to Eastern Europe, even given Jovanovic’s Slavic roots and the linguistic similarities of Serbian, Ukrainian and Russian, is no easy move. Just ask Birmingham’s Garry O’Connor, who endured a single torrid season as Jovanovic’s replacement at Lokomotiv Moscow in 2006/07.
Then there were the injuries. One in particular, sustained just after having made his debut for Shakhtar, kept him sidelined for nearly a year. Likewise having signed for Lokomotiv, he missed pre-season after sustaining an Achilles injury and thereafter struggled to get into the side. On the treatment for the latter injury Jovanovic commented in an interview for Russian newspaper Sport Express: “The first time, the doctor pressed down on my Achilles with such force that my scream could be heard all along Kutuzovsky Prospekt [a street in Moscow].â€
But then, as these interview comments perhaps suggest, Jovanovic is also rather an interesting character. In a frank interview in Russia in 2005 the player admitted that football was less a way of earning money for him, and more a “method of self-expressionâ€.
“I earn money through my businesses. Football is for my soul,†he explained. “In brief, my business is connected with property and the sale of automobiles.†He then smilingly asked the interviewer if he wanted to buy a car, as Jovanovic would be happy to give him a 20% discount.
While such a sense of humour – never mind the option for discounted cars – might go down well on Merseyside, in Russia Jovanovic’s comments were met with scepticism, particularly given how few times he had appeared on the pitch. The rumour, perhaps uncharitably, was that Jovanovic had no reason to be fit and motivated to play football, as he could rely on earnings from his businesses for financial support.
Safe to say that his departure to Standard Liège in the summer of 2006 was met with sighs of relief around Moscow.
Now, though, with his exploits for Standard and his transfer to Anfield hitting the headlines, those in Russia and Ukraine can only rub their eyes in disbelief at the transformation of a man who seemed neither fit nor able enough to make it ‘big’ only five years ago.
The question remains – scorer or sulk: who is the real Milan Jovanovic? Either way, we’ll find out in the coming season.
