Arsenal and Chelsea suffer big Dusan Vlahovic blow

Carlo Garganese

• 19 Nov 2023 18:05 GMT
• 3 min read

Arsenal and Chelsea have suffered a blow in their hopes of signing Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic in 2024.

According to TuttoMercatoWeb, Atletico Madrid are preparing a big money-plus player exchange offer for Vlahovic in the new year.

The Italian transfer site reports that Atletico will offer €50 million plus Alvaro Morata for the big striker.

READ MORE: Premier League January transfers 2024: All the Done Deals

Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone is known to be a big fan of Vlahovic, while Juventus are interested in bringing Morata back for a third spell in Turin.

Juventus value Vlahovic at around €70m so it remains to be seen whether this offer satisfies them.

The news comes as a blow to Arsenal and Chelsea, who remain interested themselves in Vlahovic.

Both clubs are in the market to sign a top striker in January, with Arsenal in particular keen to buy the Serbian.

The Gunners tried to sign Vlahovic in January 2022 but he rejected them to join Juventus from Fiorentina, instead.

Juventus had been in negotiations with Chelsea this past summer over a swap deal involving Romelu Lukaku.

However, a deal could not be agreed and Vlahovic ended up staying at Juventus for the start of the 2023-24 season.

Juventus remain open to selling Vlahovic in January as he has continued to disappoint for the club.

Vlahovic’s disappointing Juventus transfer

Vlahovic arrived in Turin as one of the hottest properties in world football in January 2022 for €80 million from Fiorentina.

He had just scored the most goals in Serie A in a calendar year for 60 years and was posting numbers comparable to Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski.

However, things have not worked out for him in Turin - although many have blamed the negative tactics of manager Max Allegri for not getting the best out of him.

He scored just 14 goals in 42 games last season and his overall game has been extremely disappointing.

This term, he has managed four goals so far - one a penalty - but he has again been criticised for his overall play and his inability to link up with teammates and hold the ball up. He has also now gone six games without a goal and has lost his place in the starting XI to Moise Kean.