Luka Jovic is enjoying a good run in front of goal, but AC Milan have not yet made a decision regarding his future according to Matteo Moretto.
After his brace in the 3-0 win over Inter on Wednesday night, Milan have a chance of winning the cup and qualifying for the next edition of the Europa League thanks to a player that was ironically left out of the 2024-25 Champions League squad list.
It has been a strange few months for Jovic, who renewed his contract last summer and was given the No.9 shirt, but then quickly became third choice after Alvaro Morata and Tammy Abraham joined. He struggled with injuries and consequently didn’t get many minutes.
Everything pointed towards a winter exit and then a move away this summer. Yet, Sergio Conceicao has entrusted the Serb with an increasingly central role, and his four goals in the last five games could change the cards on the table.
Speaking on Fabrizio Romano’s YouTube channel (via MilanNews), Moretto shed light on the future of Jovic and the prospects of him potentially staying beyond June.
“I want to start today’s video by talking about Luka Jović because the Serbian striker is in fact the Rossoneri hero in the return leg of the Coppa Italia final against Inter. He is a player who has found very little space within the hierarchies this year, first under Fonseca and then under Conceiçao.
“You want a bit of bad luck because Jović has had several ailments, he has had several stops also on a physical level due to injuries that have not helped him in his growth path, in terms of performance, but also because certain choices have brought him to the margins of the Milan squad.
“Luka Jović has played very little this year, we were saying, 78 minutes in the Coppa Italia and two goals, decisive against Inter, 348 minutes in the league and two goals. The Serbian striker, born in 97, is therefore a a player who still has several years ahead of him at a certain level, at a certain type of performance, is a player who has shown that he can still be decisive.
“So, I want to start from the assumption that Jović and Milan have not yet made a decision on the future. Jović has a contract that expires in June, and the parties will discuss it towards the end of May. In any case, in the month of May we will understand better whether or not Jovic can continue at Milan also during the course of next year.
“However, today I want to focus on Jovic’s contract, on the contract that Jović signed in August 2023, because it was a deal that closed at the last second: Jović signs this annual contract for Milan, renewable for another 3 years. But this 1+3 is not a contract that needs to be explained, because it is structured in a very particular way.
“It was conceived by Milan CEO Giorgio Furlani, who decided to structure it in this way to also protect himself in terms of performance. It’s an idea to be able to decide from year to year, based on the player’s performance, what path to take, both on the club side and on the player side.
“So, in fact, this Jovic contract signed in August 2023 is not a 1+3, but a 1+1+1+1. So every year, at the end of each year, the parties can decide by mutual agreement whether to trigger the automatic renewal or not.
“Last year Milan decided to keep Jovic, they decided not to let him start on a free, therefore to renew his contract and this year it will be the same. This year the parties will decide by mutual agreement. Milan will clearly decide, the input will be from Milan.
“Milan will clearly have to discuss it with the player, but Milan has the possibility to automatically renew Luka’s contract. Jović. And then we will understand during the month of May what kind of path Milan wants to take.
“Let’s remember that Milan closed the Jovic deal in August 2023 practically at zero cost, because a free transfer was closed with Fiorentina. From what I understand, among other things, it wasn’t exactly at zero cost.
“Milan paid a small compensation, almost €200,000, but still a very, very low amount, negligible, then compared to the performance that Jović has given in these last two years, even if in any case let’s say the personal opinion is that Jovic could have given even more based then obviously on his form, then based on the minutes, etc. etc.
“However, let’s say that today we are talking about Jovic in terms of Milan by going to dissect the contract and going to reiterate the fact that a decision has not yet been made on his future, it will be made towards the end of the season, but with the concept that the contract is expiring, but Milan has another option to renew his contract.”
