Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane sidesteps questions about Luka Jovic after Borja Mayoral claims the three-time Champions League-winning boss wanted to offload the Serbian instead of him
- Real Madrid striker Mayoral is on loan at Roma after a two-year spell at Levante
- Jovic has scored just twice in 29 games since leaving Eintracht Frankfurt in 2019
- The reigning LaLiga champions are top of the table ahead of their trip to Cadiz
Zinedine Zidane has insisted that Luka Jovic is part of his first-team plans after Real Madrid outcast Borja Mayoral, on loan at Roma until June 2022, claimed Zidane wanted to offload the struggling Serbian instead of him.
Jovic has only scored twice in 29 games for last season’s title-winners, with just 10 of those matches being starts.
The 22-year-old has completed 90 minutes just once for the club, in a 2-0 win over Osasuna in September last year. He has not yet scored this season.
Luka Jovic has struggled for goals since joining Real Madrid from Eintracht Frankfurt in 2019
And Mayoral said that the former Eintracht Frankfurt goal machine had been close to making a departure.
‘After doing pre-season with Real Madrid, I was going to leave the club quickly, but Zidane wanted me to stay,’ he revealed at his Roma presentation.
‘I told him I had to leave to get more opportunities. I think the club listened to Zidane and that’s why they instead wanted to offload Jovic.
‘Everything was done very late, but in the end, I called [Zidane’s] office again and asked him if he could let me leave.
‘I thought I would have more opportunities to play and improve. In the end it’s done, I’m here and this is the most important thing.’
Borja Mayoral (pictured on loan at Levante) claims Zinedine Zidane wanted to get rid of Jovic
When Mayoral’s comments were put to him, Jovic said that ‘maybe’ he was right, adding: ‘You have to ask the club.’
Zidane refused to confirm Mayoral’s claim.
‘The conversations I have with my footballers are behind closed doors,’ he said on the eve of his side’s trip to face Cadiz. ‘What goes on in the dressing room, stays in the dressing room.
Zinedine Zidane did not give anything away as he faced the media before the trip to Cadiz
Zidane was then asked whether he thought it would be tough to motivate Jovic, to which he responded: ‘Jovic is a Real Madrid player. I want Jovic here.
‘Lots of people can have their opinion, they are entitled to their opinion. We have to live with that. But Jovic is a Real Madrid player.’
Real currently top LaLiga having won three of their matches so far and drawn the other.
