CM: Furlani comments, Fonseca snub and the last hope – Jovic now a ‘luxury reserve’ | OneFootball

It has been a strange summer for Luka Jovic, who got a renewal and took the No.9 shirt but has now been left out of the Champions League squad list after exit talk late in the window.

The official announcement came yesterday stating that Jovic, as expected, has been excluded from the list that Milan sent to UEFA. The Serbian striker will therefore not be part of the list of players available to Paulo Fonseca in view of the ‘league phase’ of the new format of the Champions League.

As Calciomercato.com write, it is a choice that is not surprising, especially after the addition of Tammy Abraham, who arrived on loan from Roma in exchange for Alexis Saelemaekers going the other way on the same terms.

The decision not to include Jovic in the list for the Champions League is one that had been taken and shared in advance by the entire staff, then CEO Giorgio Furlani was asked about Jovic in Tammy Abraham’s unveiling press conference.

“Why did we renew Jovic and sign another striker? We have three competitions plus the Super Cup. There are a lot of games, so for us it makes sense to have three strikers,” he said.

Now we are left trying to guess what Jovic’s future might be. The Rossoneri will play over 50 games this season so it is clear that the former Eintracht Frankfurt man should get some games, but it is also clear that his exclusion from the list for the top European competition puts him in a less than comfortable position.

He is firmly the third choice, behind Alvaro Morata and Abraham, which is exactly the fate that he expected after the contract renewal that came this summer. His ambitions were highlighted by his decision to inherit the No.9 shirt from Olivier Giroud.

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The 26-year-old hoped for opportunities to shine and give his contribution but these will be limited to sporadic appearances, especially after the unconvincing performance in his debut against Torino, where he had the chance to play from the first minute.

Jovic has always believed that the contract renewal exercised in June was a clear and direct declaration from Milan that they wish to focus on him. In reality, as the weeks went by, this belief quickly turned into uncertainty, even though the striker made it clear he is happy to stay.

This is why he never took into consideration the proposals that had arrived in early July from Zenit St. Petersburg and a couple of clubs in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The scenario has now completely changed: Jovic is the ‘luxury outcast’ of the squad, and something could change over the next 10 days.

Milan had already communicated to agent Fali Ramadani that he can find a new club for Jovic and even though the summer window is now archived in Italy, in the ‘top five’ European leagues and in the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia, the Turkish Super Lig provides hope.

Incoming operations are permitted there until September 13th and – as the Victor Osimhen move shows – there is a glimmer of hope for Jovic and for Milan that the right solution might yet come.