Fiorentina’s €100m plan to keep Vlahovic from Arsenal, Juve and Liverpool

Robin Bairner

• 15 Dec 2021 15:03 GMT
• 3 min read

Fiorentina will not be easily parted with striker Dusan Vlahovic, despite the interest from the likes of Arsenal, Juventus and Liverpool.

Over the course of the last year, the 21-year-old Serbia international has been in prolific form and already has 15 goals in 17 Serie A matches this season.

Indeed, he is threatening to equal or even beat Cristiano Ronaldo’s record for Serie A goals in a calendar year.

Naturally, this has piqued the interest of leading clubs around Europe, particularly those on the hunt for a new centre forward.

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Vlahovic is out of contract in June 2023 and reportedly has no intention of signing a new deal with Fiorentina.

The Serie A club, however, will not buckle easily under pressure from Juve and the Premier League and are ready to take advantage of the interest in Vlahovic by creating a bidding war.

Gazzetta dello Sport reports that they are ready to ask for around €100 million for the striker.

Who can afford Vlahovic?

If Fiorentina are intent on sticking to that price tag, there are only a handful of clubs in the world who can afford him and would likely be willing to pay for him.

Arsenal and Liverpool would both have to smash their existing transfer records to sign the player, but both likely could if they really wanted to. Juventus, though, are simply unable to afford such a lavish sum.

Of this trio, Arsenal have the greatest need for a No.9, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s latest disciplinary matter plunging his future at the club into doubt.

There is more tentative interest from elsewhere, too. Manchester United have been quietly mentioned in dispatches but most likely would not pay that kind of fee while Cristiano Ronaldo is still at the club, but Manchester City do not have a natural No.9 and could certainly afford the fee. Whether Pep Guardiola is willing to disrupt his strikerless system for Vlahovic is more doubtful, however.

Fifth in the standings and with a realistic prospect of Champions League football next season, it is easy to see why Fiorentina prize Vlahovic so highly. If he maintains anything like the level of form he has shown over the last 12 months until the end of the season, his value is unlikely to diminish greatly due to the competition over his signature.