Luka Jovanovic is an 18-year-old Australian attacker who plays for Adelaide United in the A-League. Jovanovic has broken through as a regular rotation player this season and, in my view, has shown the ability to reach the top. He has played five times for Australia at various youth levels.
Jovanovic has nominally lined up as a striker in most of his professional appearances, however, he’s usually playing off a target man. Jovanovic’s best position is as some sort of withdrawn striker, either directly behind a more traditional #9 or on the wing. Jovanovic often receives the ball in deeper areas, between the lines, and turns to run at the opposing backline. Jovanovic’s close control is excellent, allowing him to get out of tight spaces and dribble very close to opposing defenders without losing the ball. When it comes to actually getting past opponents there is room for improvement. Although he is skilled and crafty, he’s still a bit lacking in the power to explode past opponents. I would expect this to improve as he gets a bit older. In the final 3rd Jovanovic often drifts into wide areas. There he will try to use his dribbling to get into the box and either cross the ball or cut it back to a teammate. In particular, he often puts in delightful clipped crosses that don’t have much power but hang in the air for a long time, making them hard to defend against. Jovanovic’s off-the-ball movement is reasonably good. He’s regularly in a good position to receive cutbacks from teammates. However, I would like to see him hit the six-yard box with his runs more often. Jovanovic’s lack of receptions right in front of goal is probably partly down to playing off the giant Hiroshi Ibusuki who usually occupies the space right in front of the opposition goal. But when Jovanovic receives the ball in the box it’s usually 12-15 yards out. Some more tap-ins would be good for his game. Jovanovic is quite small, standing 5’8, and is no aerial threat so that obviously limits what he can do in the box. He tends to lose physical battles, though he’s really young so there’s plenty of time for him to get stronger. He’s not slow but he does not stand out as incredibly fast. Jovanovic is quite willing to press opponents, though he does not win the ball back that often. This too, might improve as he gets older and more experienced.
I think Jovanovic has the potential to play in a top-5 league, maybe even for a top team in a top-5 league. He has some obvious areas for improvement but his technical quality is immediately apparent to even a casual observer and he’s putting up 0.62 xG+xA/90 as an 18-year-old. Those are star potential indicators. Jovanovic has Serbian citizenship so Red Star and Partizan should be calling Adelaide United every day. If Jovanovic reaches the level I think he’s capable of those clubs would be great stepping stones to a top-5 league.
Target Scouting 