Real Madrid are reportedly furious after $64 million striker Luka Jovic pretended that a fractured ankle he is alleged to have sustained when he fell off a wall while in quarantine in Serbia had happened during a training session.
The Spanish giants made their long-awaited return to training yesterday but will be without Jovic, who blamed “incorrect advice” after he was accused of breaking isolation guidelines to party with his girlfriend in his homeland during quarantine, for up to three months after announcing he has a major foot injury on Friday.
Jovic’s father, Milan, has insisted that he “can’t say anything” after the forward and his family were ordered to keep their counsel by Madrid amid reports that club doctors were furious with him for covering up his lockdown injury.
“He was really injured,” a source close to Jovic is quoted as saying by Belgrade outlet Kurir, which reported that he had taken a painful tumble at his home in the Serbian capital. “He barely survived.
“He fell from a wall. I don’t know how to explain it to you and I don’t really understand how he managed it. Everything happened by accident.”
Spanish newspapers believe that Jovic covered up the extent of his broken right heel bone when he reported for COVID-19 testing with the rest of the squad last week, with some reports even suggesting that he pretended he had sustained the fracture during the early stages of a training session.
The 22-year-old is considered one of the brightest prospects in European football after scoring 25 goals in 54 matches during a loan spell at Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt that ended when Madrid bought him from Benfica last summer.
Voilà sa blessure réalisé en plein confinement c’est beau pic.twitter.com/yxGDa2NpeK
He struggled to make an impact before the Liga season was suspended on March 23, scoring just twice in 15 appearances for Zinedine Zidane’s side before becoming embroiled in controversies over his behaviour during lockdown.
Madrid were thought to have been unhappy with his decision to return to Serbia, where Prime Minister Ana Brnabic called him a “negative example” after he was pictured leaving his apartment despite being mandated to enter self-isolation.
“I am very sorry that I am the main topic these days and that I am constantly being written about,” Jovic said after the country’s interior minister, Nebojsa Stefanovic, warned that those who flaunted guidelines could face criminal proceedings.
“It is very unfortunate for me that some people did their job unprofessionally and did not give me the correct instructions for how to behave in self-isolation.
“In Spain, I was allowed to go to a pharmacy and a supermarket so that I could get the groceries I needed, which is not the case here.”
A French fan account dedicated to Jovic appeared to show a hospital scan detailing the extent of the fracture on social media, adding: “It’s official – Luka is still injured. He is suffering from a broken right foot.”
Spanish doctor Jose Gonzalez has described Jovic’s injury as severe, according to Kurir. “The bone that Jovic broke supports the entire weight of the body and is quite resistant to external forces,” he is reported to have said.
“In the vast majority of cases, the fracture occurs due to violent trauma or a fall from a great height.”
Madrid are hoping to resume their season alongside the rest of La Liga later this summer.
