Despite facing criticism, Serie A has seen a number of established and emerging stars in recent years. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s return to Italy after a brief spell with Barcelona shows the peninsula can still attract top quality players. With the presence of stars such as Andrea Pirlo, Robinho and Wesley Sneijder, Serie A can still be considered as one of the world’s elite leagues.

The results of Milan and Napoli (both won their first-leg matches against two EPL teams despite many pundits claiming EPL is far superior to Serie A) show there is still life in the Italian league despite the financial difficulties and the poor condition of stadiums in Italy.

Many have covered Sebastian Giovinco and Marek Hamsik or rising stars such as Edinson Cavani, but little attention has been given to Stevan Jovetic, one of the most promising players not just in Italy but perhaps Europe. He has been in Florence for the past 4 years and has already shown he is determined to shine and become a star.

Jovetic’s career has already faced one major obstacle when he missed all of last season after a demoralizing cruciate ligament injury. Since his return to action, Stevan has demonstrated he has the talent as well as the determination and fight to resume his career from the same promising plateau he reached prior to his serious injury.

During the 2009-10 season, Stevan scored both goals in the 2-0 win over Liverpool and added another pair in the 3-2 win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League. He began to attract interest from a number of elite European clubs yet the injury to his right knee sidelined him and some began to doubt whether he can comeback to the same level he exhibited prior to his long-term injury.

So far, Jovetic has answered his critics with an impressive tally of 12 goals in just 16 Serie A matches this season. He continues to improve and remains Fiorentina’s best hope for rebuilding and perhaps to compete for Champions League spots starting with next season.

Jovetic signed a contract extension tying him to the Florence based club until 2016 which means only a big offer can convince Fiorentina to sell him. The talented forward has already played 19 times for Montenegro and scored 8 times for his country. He is only 22-years-old and if he continues to improve and put on some impressive displays then it would not be a surprise if he is linked once again with clubs such as Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Jovetic is proving the cynics wrong as he continues to score for Fiorentina but the bigger task will be to perform consistently at a high level. In the past, he scored in Europe’s elite competition against some of the bigger clubs but the question is can he do it again and will he get the opportunity to do so while in Florence or must he move to another club? This season has been relatively calm on the market front because some clubs are probably covertly monitoring his progress before a potential move during the summer.

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