How does Luka Jovic stack up against Real Madrid's other strikers?
We crunch the numbers to see how Real Madrid's new signing Luka Jovic compares to Karim Benzema and Mariano Diaz.
Real Madrid announced the signing of Luka Jovic from Eintracht Frankfurt for a reported fee of €60million on Tuesday. The 21-year-old arrives in Spain as one of Europe's most prolific young forwards and Los Blancos' notoriously demanding fans will expect the Serbian to hit the ground running after their torrid 2018-19 campaign.
Jovic is likely to compete with Karim Benzema and possibly Mariano Díaz for the central striking role in Zinedine Zidane's starting XI. We look at last season's statistics, courtesy of Opta, to see how Jovic compares to his new team-mates.
Benzema still delivering the goods
Madrid needed someone to take on the goalscoring burden following Cristiano Ronaldo's departure to Juventus and Benzema did not disappoint. The 31-year-old rolled back the years to score 30 goals in 53 appearances across all competitions, a return of a goal every 143.47 minutes.
While Jovic scored fewer goals overall than Benzema (27), they did arrive more frequently. He played almost 1000 minutes fewer than the Frenchman, which meant he found the back of the net every 122.41 minutes.
Mariano, meanwhile, struggled in his first season following his move from Olympique Lyon. The 25-year-old played just 593 minutes across 19 appearances, scoring four goals.
Jovic's all-round game to come under close scrutiny
While Jovic's primary objective will be to score goals, he will need to demonstrate a willingness to contribute to the greater good if he is to usurp Benzema as the club's pre-eminent forward.
In addition to his goals last season, Benzema provided 10 assists for his team-mates. This meant he was involved in a goal every 107.60 minutes throughout the campaign. He also created a whopping 70 chances and completed almost 58 per cent of his attempted dribbles.
Jovic has an even better rate of involvement, his six assists ensuring that he played a part in a goal every 100.15 minutes. He created far fewer chances than Benzema, though, just 37, and did not enjoy as much success with dribbles, completing 42 per cent of those attempted.
Mariano was nowhere near the level of Jovic or Benzema. He created only eight chances during his stop-start campaign, failing to contribute a single assist.
How did the wide men fare?
Gareth Bale has been heavily linked with a move away from Madrid during the off-season and Zidane will certainly feel his new signing from Frankfurt can offer more of a goal threat than the Wales international.
Bale scored 14 goals in 42 appearances in all competitions this season and provided six assists. His number of chances created, 33, is also lower than Jovic's total.
Another wide player that will be at the Santiago Bernabeu next season is Vinicius Júnior. After breaking into the team midway through the season, the Brazil international registered eight assists to suggest he could prove to be an effective supply line for Jovic as the latter looks to make his mark in Spanish football.