Arsenal and Chelsea give up as €80m striker taken off market

Carlo Garganese

17 Jan 2024 11:55 GMT
3 min read

Mauricio Pochettino, Mikel Arteta — © ProShots

Arsenal and Chelsea have accepted that there is no chance of signing Dusan Vlahovic in January.

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Both London clubs are in the market for a top-class number nine this month, and Vlahovic has been high up the shortlist of both teams.

Coming into January, Juventus were open to the possibility of selling Vlahovic if they received an offer in the region of €60-70 million.

This price tag was always likely to be too steep for Arsenal and Chelsea but Juventus’ openness to a sale meant a transfer was not impossible.

However, Vlahovic’s outstanding form in recent weeks means that Juventus no longer have any intention to listen to offers this month.

Vlahovic scored two excellent goals for Juventus on Tuesday, including a stunning free-kick, in a 3-0 win over Sassuolo.

He has four goals and two assists in his last six games, and his previously much-malligned all-round game has been much-improved.

Finally, Vlahovic is starting to look more like the €80m player Juventus signed from Fiorentina two years ago.

The Bianconeri beat Arsenal to the signing of Vlahovic in January 2022.

Juventus had also tried to sell Vlahovic last summer and held negotiations with Chelsea 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.

Vlahovic’s troubled Juventus career

Vlahovic arrived in Turin as one of the hottest properties in world football in January 2022 for €80m 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, he struggled badly in his first 18 months at Juventus.

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

Vlahovic also was inconsistent in the first few months of this campaign, leading to the possibility of a sale in January.

But that door has now been closed and Arsenal and Chelsea will have to look elsewhere.

It is too early to say whether Vlahovic will be available this summer. Much will depend on his form between now and then, and also who will be Juventus' new manager next season.