By Zach Lowy
Born in Belgrade, Serbia, Vlahović launched his skilled profession with Partizan, the place he turned the membership’s youngest-ever debutant and youngest-ever goalscorer. These sensational shows attracted the curiosity of Fiorentina, who signed him for €3.2 million in 2018. After progressively adjusting to life in Italy and balancing his time between the reserves and first group, Vlahović took Italian soccer by storm in 2020/21 with 21 objectives in 37 appearances, profitable the Serie A Finest Younger Participant award earlier than backing that up with a stellar begin to the 2021/22 season with La Viola.
4 years after leaving his hometown for Italy, Vlahović had the world at his ft. He had scored extra Serie A objectives than some other participant for the reason that begin of the 2020/21 marketing campaign, he was the one participant born after 2000 to have scored no less than 40 objectives in Europe’s high 5 leagues alongside Erling Haaland, and the second participant to attain 33+ Serie A objectives in a calendar yr after Cristiano Ronaldo in 2020. It’s why Juventus determined to shell out a Serie A winter switch window file price of €70 million for Vlahović, who signed a 4.5-year contract on January 28, 2022, the day of his twenty second birthday. 5 months after promoting Ronaldo to Manchester United, Juventus had discovered themselves their new world-class attacking talisman able to elevating the group to extraordinary heights. A minimum of, so that they thought.
The Serbian sharpshooter loved a vivid begin to life in Turin, scoring on his debut vs. Hellas Verona, discovering the again of the web simply 33 seconds into his UEFA Champions League debut vs. Villarreal, netting within the Coppa Italia Last vs. Inter, and racking up 9 objectives in 21 appearances in all competitions for Juve. Nonetheless, he has struggled to construct on this preliminary momentum and develop into a constant difference-maker within the closing third; after scoring 21 objectives and 29 objectives in 2020/21 and 2021/22, Vlahović has since scored 14, 17, and 18 objectives for La Vecchia Signora.
“Vlahović has needed to work with totally different managers, ways that don’t go well with his greatest attributes, and a membership that merely doesn’t have a steady surroundings, a great portion of the time” said Danny Penza of the Juventus weblog Black & White & Learn All Over. “Plus, there’s the expectations of making an attempt to dwell as much as each the club-record switch price for a January switch and the very best wage in Serie A that he has been paid the final couple of years. Like numerous strikers, he’s extremely streaky, however simply while you suppose that a kind of sizzling streaks may be prolonged a bit of longer (or extra) than the final one, he goes chilly. And as a lot as there’s expertise there, it’s arduous to suppose he’s actually gotten significantly better than when he first signed with Juventus.”
Vlahović thrived as a poacher in Florence because of his skill to linger on the final line of defence, make diligent runs in behind, and coolly end probabilities contained in the field, however at Juventus, he’s been tasked with dropping deeper and linking up with teammates. Whereas Vlahović may use his rampant pace and bodily brute power to his benefit and exploit counter-attacking conditions and take advantage of out of the vacant house, he’s been pressured to adapt his sport in the direction of holding up the ball in opposition to deep blocks and making the ball stick in congested areas. And while he managed to duplicate his high-volume taking pictures metrics in Piedmont, he hasn’t been in a position to showcase the identical effectivity within the closing third that he displayed in Tuscany. After main Serie A in massive probabilities missed (19) in 2023/24, Vlahović ranked third for Anticipated Objectives per 90 (0.63) and joint-second for Photographs on Goal per 90 (1.5) in 2024/25 however completed with simply 10 league objectives (4 from the penalty spot).
Whether or not it’s the monumental stress of taking part in for certainly one of Europe’s largest golf equipment, or the managerial turmoil that has seen him play below Max Allegri, Thiago Motta and now Igor Tudor, or the final instability of a Juventus aspect that has misplaced veteran leaders like Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci and Paulo Dybala and that has seen its Scudetto dynasty drift additional and additional into the rearview mirror, it’s simple that Vlahović has didn’t dwell as much as his lofty price ticket and expectations. It’s why Juventus signed not one, however two new centre forwards this previous summer time: Jonathan David and Loïs Openda. After scoring off the bench in his first two matches, Vlahović began their subsequent two league fixtures (along with scoring a brace and an help in a half-hour vs Borussia Dortmund), earlier than coming off the bench vs. Atalanta and Villarreal.
“You’d suppose a 6’3” striker could be good at holding up the play, however he’s not,” added Penza. “He’s obtained an inconsistent management of the ball at greatest; his first contact lets him down rather a lot. He’s obtained a petulant streak to him, however then he goes out and does what he did vs. Borussia Dortmund, and also you simply marvel the place that type of stuff is extra usually. He’s a gifted participant, however an extremely irritating one — and definitely any individual who has not lived as much as his €12 million annual wage or that massive switch price.”
Having began three totally different centre forwards in Juventus’ final three video games, it stays to be seen who Igor Tudor will choose for Sunday’s match vs. Serie A leaders Milan. It stays to be seen whether or not Juventus will finish their present run of 4 attracts or whether or not Milan can prolong their profitable run to 6 matches. Nonetheless, one factor is for positive: not like Jonathan David and Loïs Openda, Dušan Vlahović’s long-term future is much away the Allianz Stadium.
(Cowl picture from IMAGO)
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