Life, as they say, comes at you fast.

There was a time, in the not so distant past, when Dusan Vlahovic and Victor Osimhen were viewed as integral parts of Juventus and Napoli. Strikers their respective teams built entire attacks around.

Everything was geared towards servicing Vlahovic and Osimhen. Men capable of scoring the goals to win games and possibly even titles.

Now in the summer of 2025, they are unwanted. One is loitering on the fringes, the other outcast from his parent club and receiving little attention from potential new employers.

This is hardly the future Vlahovic and Osimhen envisioned.

And what happens to the pair of them will remain one of the most intriguing elements of the summer transfer market in Italy. It has been clear for some time they are surplus to requirements.

For Vlahovic, his move to Juve did not hit the heights most expected. Hindsight is always a wonderful thing, but there is little doubt now that Juve massively overpaid for Vlahovic in the winter of 2022. 

A striker who excels best in teams who play on the counter, Vlahovic found the step up to the big time difficult. The gaps that appeared for him while wearing the purple of Fiorentina vanished in the black and white of Juve.

Opposing teams rarely attacked Juve, and Vlahovic found it difficult to create space against low blocks.

Not the most technical nor the most mobile, the Serb has struggled throughout his time in Turin, his confidence fluctuating from one week to the next.

At Fiorentina, teams generally ventured forward and left space at the back. Vlahovic exploited this time and again. By the time he departed Florence, he had rattled in 49 goals in 108 games.

In his three-and-a-half years at Juve, he has scored 56 goals, but played some 35 more games.

To compound matters, Vlahovic was, and remains, the highest paid player in Serie A, on a reported €12million net per season. 

Juve are now a very different club. With sponsorship diminishing as years of underperformance continue to hinder them, a player on Vlahovic’s kind of money is no longer sustainable. A throwback to a different era.

Vlahovic was a mainstay under Max Allegri, but the beginning of the end came when Thiago Motta arrived. Motta demands more from his strikers, and it was clear Vlahovic’s skillset did not mesh with Motta’s vision for Juve.

Once Randal Kolo Muani arrived in the winter, Vlahovic rarely got an outing, starting just four games in the final months of the campaign.

Even Motta’s replacement Igor Tudor, who was initially a fan of Vlahovic, appears to have soured on him. The Croat handed Vlahovic starts against Roma, Genoa and Lecce, but reverted to Kolo Muani for the final games of the season and preferred the Frenchman in the opening match of the Club World Cup in the US.

Now with just a year remaining on his contract, Juve are attempting to offload the 25-year-old and his hefty salary.

Talk of a switch to AC Milan and a reunion with Allegri has been rumbling in the background for weeks. It would seem a good fit. Milan need a striker and Vlahovic needs a coach who has faith in him.

Yet the issue of his salary could put clubs off. No side in Serie A could afford to match Vlahovic’s Juve wage, and clubs abroad who could, namely the Premier League, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid, are not interested.

From a player who seemingly had his pick of clubs three years ago, Vlahovic’s downturn has been quite remarkable.

Osimhen, meanwhile, is a different story.

Whereas Vlahovic did not produce the goods, the Nigerian certainly did. Capocannoniere in the title-winning season in 2022-23, Osimhen scored goals for fun at Napoli.

In four seasons he rifled in 65 league goals in 108 games, but the rose has fully come off the bloom between Osimhen and Napoli.

Following the disastrous title defence of 2023-24, Osimhen and Napoli gambled on the demand for his signature a year ago. His release clause of €130m was so high no club wanted to pay it, and his wages so demanding no one was willing to match terms. 

The end result was a hastily-arranged loan spell at Galatasaray where the goals continued to flow, as they always do with Osimhen.

Thirty-seven in 41 games in all competitions was a healthy return as the club secured yet another league title. For Osimhen, his second in three seasons in two different countries.

Now back at Napoli, it is clear his time at the club is finished, yet the lack of genuine competition for his signature is baffling for a player of his talent.

In a world where strikers are in very short supply, there should be a queue.

The player rejected a move to Saudi side Al-Hilal, who offered a colossal €30m per season. Osimhen, rightly, believes he still has plenty to offer in European football and is not in a rush to move to the Middle East just yet.

His new release clause is set at €75m yet teams are reluctant to trigger it. 

It has been reported that several English sides are interested in the 26-year-old, but question marks surrounding his character have stopped clubs from pulling the trigger.

Moreover, with the striker demanding in excess of £200k per week – net – it would mean Premier League sides forking out over £300,000 per week, something that even the most flush English teams are hesitant to do.

It means there is a standoff between Osimhen and Napoli. The club need to offload him to kick on with their summer transfer business and arm Antonio Conte with the players demanded in his meeting with Aurelio De Laurentiis in the days following Scudetto number four.

Juve have shown interest in Osimhen, coincidentally, but first need to offload Vlahovic. 

De Laurentiis, despite being a canny operator in the market, would no doubt rather sell Osimhen to anyone else but Juve, no matter the money. 

Al-Hilal are still at the door, as are Galatasaray, but options are limited.

Both Vlahovic and Osimhen need to be moved on, yet their demands are seen as excessive, belonging to a different time.

There was a time when both could have had their pick of European clubs.

One minute you’re the hot thing of the football world, the next you aren’t.

Life, as they say, comes at you fast.