Manchester City 2014/2015 Player Ratings: Stevan Jovetic

I think it was Zac who wrote a few days after City signed Jovetic, Negredo, Navas and Fernandinho that City were looking very much like a "total football' side, with guys playing multiple roles. At the very least, it appeared City, with the signings, would be two deep at every single position; two quality guys who could play at the highest level. And of the four new signings, one could be excused for thinking the best signing was Stevan Jovetic: the youngest, apparently more athletic of the bunch.

And it never happened. I'm not sure if it's tragic or pathetic; probably a little of both. Zac got nearly 500 word in on Navas' evaluation. I thought by June 2015, I'd have to type twice as many for Jovetic but I'm struggling to come up with with half as much because his career was tragically--or pathetically--truncated the moment he donned the Etihad clothing. With that said:

Five Random Thoughts on a player whose quality remains to be seen.

1. It was August 25^th of the just concluded, eminently forgettable and borderline desultory 14/15 season. That day, it was a given that this was going to be the best year Stevan Jovetic ever had in a City shirt. He had just scored two goals against Liverpool, he had been playing quite well in the preseason and after the Liverpool match, Sergio Aguero said, "I want to play with him." Signed in 13/14, battling enough injuries to bankrupt Blue Cross, Jovetic was starting the season healthy and hot. No one reasonably suspected it was to be the high point of his year.
2. Getting the shaft in the Champions League after the signing of Wilfred Bony was the last we heard of Jovetic. He doesn’t seem the type to take his battle to the press but I find it interesting that we never heard from the guy again. To the best of my knowledge, he was rarely, if ever, on the bench, much less named to the roster. I suspect after being told he wouldn’t be participating in the CL, he let Pellegrini know then and there he was going to be playing elsewhere next season.
3. He’s only 25. My own prediction of where he ends up next season? Liverpool or Inter Milan with the latter being the favorite.
4. A retrospective here.
5. And what the hey, the goals against Liverpool are here.

Good luck, Stevan. We hardly knew ye.

Player Rating: 4/10