Dusan Vlahovic at a Crossroads as Juventus Look to Address €83m Elephant in The Room

Fifty-three goals in three years doesn’t seem like a bad tally for a striker in the modern era. But stats can be misleading without context.

That’s the number of goals Dusan Vlahovic has scored for Juventus since swapping Florence for Turin three years ago.

Vlahovic seemed destined for greatness. He’d banged in goals for fun at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, and the move to Juventus seemed the next logical step in his career. Aged just 22 when he made the jump, he was considered a future world-class striker.

Fifty-three strikers later, though, both club and player are at a crossroads. Given Juve handed over a mammoth figure of €83m to La Viola for the Serb’s services, the tally doesn’t look so positive.

Now halfway through his third full season, Vlahovic feels as far away from world-class as he was when he first joined.

The Serbia international has scored only four more goals in all competitions for Juve compared to his stint in Florence, despite playing 16 games more and playing in a team that, by nature of possessing a higher pedigree of talent, create more chances per game.

The 24-year-old sometimes cut an isolated figure during Max Allegri’s minimalist second reign. Allegri’s ultra defensive tactics did little for Vlahovic, who often found himself alone in attack with little in the way of support.

At Fiorentina, the former Partizan Belgrade youth player was used to players providing ample service. On the contrary, with the Bianconeri he’s been deprived, which is somewhat ludicrous considering he traded up.

Yet by the same token, Vlahovic ranks second in big chances missed this season (12). Only Cagliari’s Roberto Piccoli has proven more wasteful in front of goal.

This is on the back of a 2023-24 campaign where Vlahovic topped the charts for big chances missed in 2023-24. The Serb’s 17 saw him rank in first place ahead of Napoli’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia by two clear chances. In 2022-23, Vlahovic was inside the top 10.

Meanwhile, his shot conversion rate continues to dip season-on-season. In his first few months in Turin, the rate stood at 20 per cent. Now, it’s hovering just about the 12.5 per cent mark – a significant drop.

Despite scoring more goals in 2023-24 than 2022-23 (which was admittedly hindered by injury), the data points to a severe drop in Vlahovic’s self-confidence.

So far in 2024-25, he’s scored seven Serie A goals from 16 appearances, yet only one in a big game, the pulsating 4-4 draw with Inter. 

Some would argue that punishing the likes of Venezia, Genoa, Hellas Verona, and Cagliari isn’t what Juve paid all that money for. They have a point.

This also mirrors last year, when he scored one goal against top opposition — again Inter —and saved his goals for sides in the bottom half of the league. 

As Allegri’s pragmatism gave way to Thiago Motta’s possession-based game, Vlahovic has looked more out of sorts than he was under the Tuscan. 

Not exactly blessed with the technique of an Alessandro Del Piero or Paulo Dybala, Vlahovic has looked cumbersome with the ball at his feet. Motta demands more from his strikers in the attacking phase than Allegri ever did, and on this front Vlahovic is falling short.

At Fiorentina, teams attacked and thus left space in behind for Vlahovic and others to exploit. That isn’t the case at Juve, where he’s often found with several defenders around him. Lacking the technique to get out of tricky situations when on the ball, Vlahovic also lacks the off-ball movement of a David Trezeguet or a Pippo Inzaghi.

The end result is Vlahovic being easy to subdue, and Juve end up relying on a moment of brilliance from Kenan Yildiz, Francisco Conceicao or someone in midfield, with both Khephren Thuram and Weston McKennie chipping in with the odd goal or two this season.

There are parallels with Erling Haaland at Man City, in that he doesn’t fit Pep Guardiola’s game, yet Haaland still scores goals by the lorry load. Vlahovic is, essentially, an inferior version of that, yet Juve paid more for the Serb than City did for the Norwegian.

Moreover, Vlahovic is the highest earner in Serie A, with the player on a reported €12m-per-season after tax. With his contract running down in the summer of 2026, Juve are attempting to extend his contract but with a reduced salary, something the player seems ill-prepared to contemplate.

The likelihood could be a summer departure, with a winter one all-but-ruled out considering the dearth of genuine options around Europe at present. Juve have been linked with a move for Joshua Zirkzee, whose struggles during his first season in the Premier League with Manchester United have been well documented.

Yet Zirkzee wouldn’t be a replacement for Vlahovic but merely another option in attack for Motta. Paris Saint-Germain’s Randal Kolo Muani has also been linked as a possible signing to take the pressure off Juve’s No 9.

Vlahovic has six months to cement a future in Turin. Soon to be 25, the club can wait for the pieces to click together no longer. The time has come to justify the salary, or a summer departure is inevitable.