When the the Dutch takes on Montenegro on Saturday evening in Podgorica, one of the most famous football players who recently produced the country is normally back in action. Stevan Jovetic was missing during the previous meeting in Eindhoven – where the Netherlands won 4-0 – due to a calf injury. It is those injuries that ensured that the now 32-year-old former prodigy of Hertha BSC never really became the absolute top player he could have become.
By Chris Meijer
Martin van Geel’s reaction was firm and perhaps even a bit fierce. “We are not working with anyone at all”, reacted the then technical director of Ajax, when he was confronted in the autumn of 2007 with statements from Jovetic’s agent. He had claimed that Ajax was the most serious in the market for the then seventeen-year-old shadow striker. Tomislav Karadzic, chairman of Partizan Belgrade, also spoke of an ‘official offer’ from Ajax. “Its level is a trade secret. But we expect others. There is a lot of interest in him,” Karadzic said. Because of the name and fame of Ajax as a springboard to the European top, Jovetic would have preferred a switch to Amsterdam over Feyenoord, AZ, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and a whole host of European superpowers.
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Scouts in those days invariably left the Partizana Stadium with one name circled in their notebooks: that of the number 35 of Partizan Belgrade. This curly-haired head – which reminded many people of Queen guitarist Brian May with his haircut – was remarkably complete despite his very young age. Physically fit, an excellent dribble, fast, technically gifted, creative, versatile, often involved in goals: the scouts could tick everything. Partizan took Jovetic away from his hometown of Podgorica at the age of fourteen, where he started his career at OFK Titograd. Less than two years later, he already made his debut in the first team of the Serbian top club and after that it went quickly. At 17 years, 10 months and 21 days, he wore the captaincy for the first time at Partizan.
“It was a surprise because there were a lot of older and more experienced players. They chose me, no idea why. But I was happy with it. Partizan is a big club and I was a kid. Maybe some of the older players were a little angry because they wanted to be captain too. Not on me, but on the club. They never said anything about it and remained correct. That’s why we won everything that season,” Jovetic later said in an interview in the Guardian. He won the Serbian double in 2008 and then proved to be no longer tenable for Partizan. Not Ajax, Feyenoord or AZ, but Fiorentina became his next club. The Italians paid eight million euros, a lot less than the 15 million euros asking price that was previously reported. In Florence there was talk of a real coup: Fiorentina had managed to steal a child prodigy from the noses of the biggest clubs in Europe.
With Fiorentina, Jovetic scored 40 goals and 21 assists in 134 games before being sold to Manchester City after 5 seasons for €26 million.
“All the big clubs in Europe were after him. And when I say everything big clubs, I’m not exaggerating. Real Madrid made an interesting offer, we certainly talked about that. But Pantaleo Corvino (sporting director of Fiorentina, ed.) called him every day, he wanted him so badly. There was a very clear plan for its development,” Jovetic’s agent Fali Ramadan told La Nazione. Jovetic continued to develop properly at Fiorentina and partly because of this, the future of football nation Montenegro more or less rested on his shoulders. He played and scored in the country’s first official international match, in 2008 against Bulgaria. For talented Montenegrins, the comparison with Dejan Savicevic is never far away. He is one of the greatest footballers Montenegro ever produced, winning the Champions League with Red Star Belgrade and AC Milan. Savicevic himself increased the pressure a bit during the time that Jovetic played at Fiorentina. “I see endless potential in him. Is he the new Savicevic? No, he can do even better. He reminds me of Johan Cruijff. At his age I was still playing at Buducnost for a few hundred people. He plays against Liverpool in the Champions League.”
fast forward to 2021. Jovetic did not become the new Johan Cruijff. He also did not structurally reach the level of Lionel Messi, Gabriel Batistuta, Roberto Baggio or Kaka, players with whom he was once compared. His body failed him more often than the players whose path he was destined to follow. First in 2010, when he had to miss a full season for Fiorentina due to a serious knee injury. He generally remained fit until he made the move to Manchester City for €26 million three years later. But in England and later at Internazionale, Sevilla and AS Monaco, Jovetic struggled from injury to injury. Problems with his calf, hamstring, thigh, back, knee. Another cruciate ligament injury. He missed at least a handful of games every season due to injuries.
Partly due to lingering injuries, Jovetic never managed to get past Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko in the pecking order at Manchester City.
“Injuries are things you can’t control. I have had two knee injuries. I need continuity and playing minutes. It has not been an easy time, but I have been playing football for 23 years and I enjoy it immensely. My love for football has always triumphed,” said Jovetic when he returned to AS Monaco in October 2020 from the second cruciate ligament injury of his career. His own struggles with injuries once made Jovetic decide to pay out of pocket for a knee surgery on compatriot Milivoje Raicevic, whom he did not know personally. His club Buducnost Podgorica could not afford the surgery that was necessary after the cruciate ligament injury.
“When he heard what had happened and found out that my club didn’t have enough money to allow me to operate in Augsburg, he called me to offer his help. He made sure that I could go to the doctor who helped him with the same injury. Jovetic paid all costs. I can only thank him very much and promise that I will be back as soon as possible, to score goals for him,” said Raicevic, who currently plays for Sutjeska Niksic. It’s gestures that make Jovetic a star in Montenegro, even though he may not have lived up to the sky-high expectations set at the start of his career. The 62-time international is normally the captain of the Montenegrin team, which has two other major eye-catchers with Stefan Savic (Atlético Madrid) and Adam Marusic (Lazio).
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Voetbalzone previously wrote a background article about the towering ambitions at Hertha BSC.
Jovetic did join a unique group at the beginning of this season. With his goal in the match between FC Köln and Hertha (3-1) he was named after Florin Raducioiu (played for Bari, Hellas Verona, Brescia, AC Milan, Espanyol, West Ham United and AS Monaco) and former Ajax player Christian. Poulsen (played for Schalke 04, Sevilla, Juventus, Liverpool and Évian, among others) is the third player ever to score in all five top European competitions. “His start at Hertha was not very good,” says Falko Bloeding, journalist for the German branch of Goal. “It was certainly a surprise that Hertha made it to Jovetic, because there were hardly any rumours. He did fit in with the strategy of the new sporting director Fredi Bobic, who has tried to put together a balanced selection. That is why he has recruited some experienced players on a free transfer with Jovetic, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Ishak Belfodil.”
“I don’t know whether the arrival of Jovetic can be reconciled with Hertha’s great ambitions. With his experience, he could be a leader within the squad. Then he has to stay fit for a longer period of time, something that has been a problem in recent years,” Bleeding explains. Also in his first weeks at Hertha, Jovetic was sidelined for a while due to calf problems. Before last week’s game against Bayer Leverkusen, he was actually one hundred percent fit for the first time, so coach Pál Dárdai preferred him to Krzysztof Piatek in the striker. “Piatek always wants the ball in the penalty area and waits there for his chance to score. But we need attackers who can hold the ball, Stevan himself said he can be such a striker,” said Dárdai in conversation with the Berliner Zeitung. “His calf problems are over. He moved elegantly in training, scored goals and showed good attitude.”
The confidence of Dárdai paid Jovetic back by showing a glimpse of his qualities with a nice goal. Jovetic therefore travels to Montenegro with a good feeling and is normally Virgil van Dijk’s direct opponent on Saturday evening. The captain of the Dutch will not remember their most recent duel with too much pleasure. Liverpool lost 3-4 to Hertha in preparation for this season thanks in part to two goals from Jovetic and prior to his last goal, he gave Van Dijk the first appearance since his serious knee injury. “How are we supposed to do that against those defenders? We are going to see the images of how Stevan Jovetic scored against Liverpool,” said Montenegrin national coach Miodrag Radulovic before the first meeting with the the Dutch squad. The big difference with the 4-0 lost match in Eindhoven? Jovetic is now normally there against the the Dutch.