After months of confusion, Serbian international Milan Jovanovic has confirmed that he will be a Liverpool player. He signed a pre-contract agreement with Rafa Benitez in January, but it was unsure whether he would complete the signing once Roy Hodgson was hired. A hybrid left winger/striker; he has good size at 6’ and is known for his pace and technical dribbling.
Jovanovic has been playing with Standard Liege in Belgium for the last four years, with stints for Lokomotiv Moscow and Shakhtar Donetsk prior to that. While he does have a very good scoring rate of 52 goals in 112 league games in Belgium, some wonder if his ability will translate to a much tougher English League. I have heard many Andriy Voronin comparisons but are they warranted?
While Milan Jovanovic has not put up the same goal rate in Europe against tougher competition, he does have 6 goals in 21 appearances. That is not a bad return for a player who is not a true out and out striker and plays many games on the wing. He is also a standout for the Serbian National team and was arguably the top player for that side in the World Cup before getting knocked out. He has contributed 10 goals in 29 goals for his country.
Jovanovic has the technical ability that a player like Voronin did not. If he is not able to score regularly for the club, Jovanovic will still be able to contribute some creativity that the team is severely lacking. He is not the answer if Torres goes down for a long period of time but he should be a solid squad player for the club without the embarrassing spells that Voronin provided.
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