Real Madrid looking to offload Jovic, but he wants another chance

Real Madrid want to jettison Luka Jovic this summer, but the Serb wants to stay and fight for his spot in the team.

The 23-year-old has not been the success the club's hierarchy imagined when they fought off Barcelona, Chelsea and Bayern Munich to sign him from Eintracht Frankfurt in 2019.

He joined for a fee of 65 million euros, but he has scored just twice for Los Blancos in 32 appearances.

And it's for that reason - and his overall inability to adapt to life in Madrid - that the club are willing to listen to offers for Jovic.

His disappearance from view and poor form will see any transfer fee reflect that, with Real Madrid expecting to recoup a figure of just 20 million euros, but even that is some comfort in the current tough economic era.

For Jovic's part, he wants to stay in the Spanish capital and believes he can become a true Real Madrid player.

He is aware that he has not offered close to what was expected of him, but he feels that Zinedine Zidane never gave him a proper opportunity.

That is perhaps borne out in the numbers, which saw Jovic feature for just 1,014 minutes across 32 games in the last two seasons at an average of just over half an hour per game.

He thinks, however, that Carlo Ancelotti may give him more of a chance, even if he is not expecting it to be as a regular starter.

Real Madrid won't force any move, though, with the club feeling they only need to remove two players from the existing squad of 27 - or three if Kylian Mbappe arrives.

One of those - due to visa requirements - will be Take Kubo, with others such as Jesus Vallejo, Dani Ceballos and Isco also close to the departure lounge.

Jovic's chance to shine

Los Merengues face AC Milan on Sunday in their last pre-season friendly, which should give Jovic a chance to press his case.

After underwhelming displays so far and some physical issues, Ancelotti is expecting more from his frontman.

For now it remains unclear whether he stays or goes.

Much will depend on the Mbappe situation, which could change Real Madrid's picture entirely in attack.