When Juventus signed Dusan Vlahovic from Fiorentina in the 2022 winter transfer window, it was seen as a great intention on the part of the Bianconeri. Juve needed a striker after Cristiano Ronaldo’s hasty departure in the final days of last summer’s transfer window, and Juve had struggled to score goals in the months since.
Juve fought off a huge Arsenal festival for the Serbian and paid around $88 million (€80 million) to sign a striker who had been looting goals for La Viola at an astonishing rate. Vlahovic had scored some 34 Serie A goals between the start. of the 2020-2021 season and January 2022, when Juventus signed him. Since then, he has scored 22 goals in 56 games.
Vlahovic’s dropout rate has been extraordinary. Most thought that when they arrived at Juve, the goals would come flooding to them. Playing for a team with visibly better players and a team that attacks and looks to score goals, the logical assumption was that Vlahovic would take his form from Fiorentina to Turin. However, that didn’t happen.
And now, nearly two years on from his big-money move, Juve could be looking to get rid of the 23-year-old, with his value greatly diminished and his reputation as one of the continent’s most promising talents in tatters.
How has this happened?
Vlahovic scored on his debut in a 2-0 win over Hellas Verona, and the feeling was that Fiorentina’s new star to sign for their hated biggest rivals was going to be the best option. However, it became clear from the start that while in Tuscany everything revolved around Vlahovic and offered him facilities, that was not going to be the case at Juve.
Max Allegri has a very different way of running compared to the Allegri of yesteryear, and Allegri’s Juve 2. 0 is a team with minimal chances created, so Vlahovic wasn’t getting the same kind of service he was used to at Fiorentina. In addition, while groups regularly park the bus opposite Juve, Vlahovic was denied the same area he was used to when playing for Fiorentina, with groups more likely to attack and thus leave a loose area in defence. Vlahovic’s strategy and ball control seemed bulky when he was surrounded by defenders and lacked space.
Vlahovic is also to blame for missed chances. This season, only Napoli’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has missed more “big” opportunities in Serie A. Last season, Vlahovic missed out on the league’s 10 most sensible chances.
Word from all sides is that Vlahovic’s decision did not work out as expected and at the end of last season, a solution seemed imminent. Juve desperately tried to get rid of him last summer, courting him from any first team in Europe with the money Juve were looking for to move him. The club even presented him to Chelsea in the hope of landing Romelu Lukaku, but new Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino was supposedly unconvinced by Vlahovic and had vetoed any potential deal.
No one was willing to pay the kind of money Juve wanted, so Vlahovic was forced to stay, and nothing about his form this season suggests he’s worth keeping. Five league goals in 14 league games is an insignificant figure for a player of his type. potential. It’s the idea that a tandem of Federico Chiesa and Vlahovic, both Fiorentina coaches, can propel Juve to the top of the table. That happened, with Juve lately occupying second place, but not thanks to Vlahovic’s contributions to the club. He and Chiesa have scored five goals apiece this season, but Vlahovic has scored one in his last 10 games.
While the Serbian’s salary will rise to around $13 million (€12 million) net per season at the end of this season, Juve want to try to get him off the books before then, with the club posting financial losses by 2022. 23. of 132 million dollars (120 million euros) and the desire to increase the wage bill.
But the challenge is Vlahovic’s form. Who’s going to pay the kind of cash Juve need for him when he’s in this form?No one needs to pay a lot of money for a striker who doesn’t score goals.