'Luka Jovic is one of the greatest talents'

The former Serbia youth manager has played with some all-time greats, but says the new Blancos signing is up there with the best

Former Serbia youth coach Veljko Paunovic has described new Real Madrid signing Luka Jovic as “one of the greatest talents” he has ever seen.

In an interview with Goal, Paunovic said: “He's one of the greatest talents I've seen, and I've played with killers like Vieri, [Jimmy Floyd] Hasselbaink, Fernando Torres and [Lyuboslav] Penev.

“After Pedja Mijatovic, Davor Suker and all that generation, there has been some great players – but not an attacker like Luka Jovic.

“We've had him in the Serbia set-up practically his whole career so far. Back in 2014, due to his great development and physical power that was superior to his age, we promoted him [to the Under-19s].

“He was born in December 1997, so he was almost three years younger than the entire generation that formed that team.”

“We reached the semi-finals of Euro U-19 (in 2015) and in that team we had [Nikola] Maksimovic, [Sergej] Milinkovic-Savic, etc - players who are having great careers now, but we were missing a striker like him.

“We had Jovic in the national team in an important tournament like that one and it was enough time to see all the potential he has and the player he is going to be.”

“Real Madrid have bought a player with lots of potential to develop,” he said.

“He’s a great player. A killer. We still have a while to go to see, for me, probably the greatest talent Serbia - or any region in former Yugoslavia - has produced in the last 20 years.

“Luka has a showreel of first-touch shots, inside the box, outside the box, on the head, both legs … it is a spectacular repertoire.

“He's so precise and ice cold – and that’s key for him. He keeps his head cool and focused on scoring goals.

“His coach must keep developing his confidence, but he's one of the greatest talents Serbia has ever had.”