Player Focus: Why Ljajic is a Better Option than Jovetic

Maybe a punch in the face was just what was required where Adem Ljajic is concerned. The former Partizan prospect appeared to be stagnating somewhat at Fiorentina before former coach Delio Rossi took offence to some sarcastic applause from the young Serbian.

Here is a player who was on the cusp of signing for Manchester United back in 2010, only for the Red Devils to pull the plug on a deal, and at the time it seemed as though Ferguson may have made a good call.

Rossi had substituted Ljajic just half an hour into a home game against Novara, with the side trailing 2-0, and the forward clearly felt that he had been credited with the blame. The mildly comical incident in which Rossi practically fell into the dugout below to launch an attack on Ljajic saw the coach sacked, and in turn it has not only proved to be a blessing for the player on the end of a couple of flailing blows but also the club as a whole.

Since then Vincenzo Montella has transformed the Viola into many a neutral's favourite side in Serie A, nurturing Ljajic where Mihajlovic and, to a much more obvious extent, Delio Rossi had seemingly failed.

After Ljajic's progression last season, Partizan Director of Football Ivan Tomic's claim that United would regret their decision not to sign the youngster is a prediction that may well have come to pass. The Manchester club have since been mooted with a return interest in the 21-year old, but it is AC Milan who appear to be at the front of an ever-lengthening queue for a player whose contract is up next summer.

Rossonerri vice-president Adriano Galliani told Sky Italia "He could become our target, but in this moment he's a player with a contract". However, if Milan are waiting for his deal to expire before firming up their interest they risk losing out on a player who will no doubt have attracted glances from further afield. In addition, while the spotlight is elsewhere, now may well be the best time for prospective suitors to strike.

The lion's share of speculation in Florence has revolved around fellow forward Stevan Jovetic, but while the Montenegrin was somewhat faltering as the previous campaign drew to a close it was Ljajic who shone brightest as Fiorentina looked, and ultimately failed, to secure Champions League football.

The Serbian international netted 7 goals in his final 9 Serie A appearances of the season, as well as picking up 4 assists in that time. Such exploits took his respective tallies to 11 and 8 for the campaign and ensured that he would, albeit in the shadow of Jovetic, be in the shop window this summer.

With the signing of Mario Gomez completed, the chances that one or the other may leave the club have surely increased and the stats suggest that Ljajic could be a better, and significantly cheaper option for potential buyers.

Comparisons can certainly be drawn between Jovetic and Ljajic in that both are very confident in their own ability. With the former attempting 3.6 shots per game and the latter 3, both rank among the league's eleven most frequent shooters in that sense. However, when considering that seven of Ljajic's 28 league appearances came from the bench the tables turn somewhat.

The 21-year old averaged just under 20 minutes per shot - ranking 4th in Serie A of players with at least 20 appearances last season - while Jovetic (7th) had one every 22. Elsewhere Ljajic scored every 148 minutes of playing time on average compared to his more hotly pursued teammate's 194.

Both fired away a large number of shots, and could both be considered a little greedy in front of goal at times, with modest figures of 13.2% (Ljajic) and 11.5% (Jovetic) in terms of conversion rates proving that they sometimes attempted the overly ambitious.

Ljajic can, like Jovetic, play as a second striker or from the left flank and his ability with the ball at his feet is clear. His footwork is very good and he possesses good pace and upper body strength, helping him work his way to the byline, attempting 5 pull-backs over the course of the season. Meanwhile, it's Jovetic (2.1 to 1.7) who comes out on top for dribbles per game, but again when looking at minutes per dribble the younger of the two outdoes his teammate (35 to 38), ranking 14th in Serie A in the process.

Ljajic is again superior in terms of minutes per key pass (37 to 46), ranking 11th in Serie A, and fares even better in terms of minutes per assist (203 to 504), with his figure only bettered by Andrea Cossu of players to appear at least 20 times in Italy's top-flight last season.

With all that in mind, and only a year left on his current contract, it seems somewhat of a mystery why all the hype surrounds Jovetic and not Ljajic, whose WhoScored rating since the turn of the year averaged out at an exceptional 7.53.

Nevertheless, many feel that Fiorentina could become Juve’s closest title challengers next season and to do that they have to keep their best players. He may have only started 21 games last season, but Ljajic is certainly emerging as one of those.