Juventus striker Dušan Vlahović was one of the hottest names in European football a couple of seasons ago when he was banging home the goals with Fiorentina. While he did has shown moments of quality for Juve, particularly at the beginning of his tenure, the Serbian international is currently in a difficult moment under Max Allegri.
As rumors regarding his future continue to swirl, Vlahović has been subject to heavy criticism from football fans around the world, with some even bluntly surmising that he was never all that good to begin with.
Let’s take a closer look at Dušan Vlahović as a player, analyzing his strengths and weaknesses, overall playing style, and drawing a final conclusion on his overall quality.
Playing Style
At Fiorentina, Dušan Vlahović was a goal-scorer’s goal-scorer. He almost exclusively focused on getting into scoring positions and finding the back of the net, which he was more than able to do because Fiorentina had the structure in place behind him but had nobody else who could deliver the goods in front of goal.
Vlahović thrived in this environment, taking advantage of open matches and of the fact that the Viola were one of the better teams in Serie A. He scored 21 goals in his first breakout season of 2020/21 and was on a truly ridiculous pace for Fiorentina in 2021/22 before his winter move to Turin, scoring 17 in 21 matches. Even in that second half of the season with Juventus, Vlahović was a scoring machine with seven goals in 12 starts.
Over time, Vlahović has become a more well-rounded player. In his final season with Fiorentina, he was averaging 2.3 fouls drawn per game and both one key pass and one dribble completed per match.
With Juve, Vlahović hasn’t been able to build on that progress he showed with the ball at his feet, but that’s because he is so isolated in Allegri’s scheme. He has nobody to play off of and doesn’t get to consistently start every week. The Juve attack is disjointed and lacks chemistry due to the discontinuity and lack of control of matches. Allegri has Juve sit back too much.
Vlahović is a striker who can use his body well to draw fouls and hold play up, but he needs to have another striker to play off of, such as Álvaro Morata, in that role. But he clearly seems to be at his best as a 9 in a 4-3-3 formation where he can focus solely on scoring goals, drifting into the box, and lurking outside for the occasional shot from distance.
Strengths
It’s always best to bet on highly technical strikers who can execute many types of finishes, and Dušan Vlahović is a special player in this regard. The 23-year-old scored some slick chipped goals, clever one-on-one finishes, and powerful headers during his time at Fiorentina.
Even at Juventus, he has a strong catalogue of goals. Earlier in the 2022/23 season, which has been his worst to date, he scored two picture-perfect free-kick goals. Not too many strikers are known for their free kicks these days, but Vlahović showed that he is one of the best in Italian football from the dead ball.
He’s come close many times this season with ambitious volleys, shots from beyond the box, and ingenious flicks. Vlahović is a creative player whose ball-striking is one of his best assets.
Although Vlahović is not fast in a traditional sense, he is explosive in short areas. His powerful physique enables him to dominate defenders in the air in the box, as well as hold them off in ways that they can only take the ball off him by fouling. Vlahović can create his own shot off the dribble with a burst of pace or a clever touch.
Weaknesses
Vlahović is good at dribbling like a striker, in the sense that he can create his own shot in and around the box. In transition, he will run out of steam and doesn’t quite have that change of pace over long distances. He can be an effective player in transition in a two-striker system, but he would need someone he can quickly play a give-and-go with as an outlet.
Some of Vlahović’s strengths go hand-in-hand with his weaknesses. For example, he does a great job of creating space for himself in the box for a header and can win most of those challenges with defenders, but his actual headed finishes are just missing that added precision. He will hit the target, but he needs to do a better job of using his head to get that angled curve to the ball so it evades goalkeepers.
As a passer, Vlahović shows promise. He can pick out the right option, but his execution and the actual weight of the pass are lacking in many cases. His key passes per game average at Juventus this season is close to one per game, but he could have a handful of more assists if he were more precise in the final third.
Finally, while Vlahović should be praised for getting himself into top physical condition, he is very much a “confidence” player. He has the mentality to succeed at a top club like Juventus, for example, but sometimes it seems like he rides the “highs” and “lows” too much. So when things are going well for Juve and for himself, he seems unstoppable. When he gets benched or when the team is losing control of the match, it feels like he loses momentum and slides too much.
So…how good is he?
Dušan Vlahović is one of the most talented strikers in European football. It is easy to forget that he is still only 23 years old, given he’s had two seasons of incredible success in Serie A for Fiorentina (and one half of that with Juventus).
His technical ability, finishing, and potential to be an all-around force at striker make him a borderline world-class player. He is capable of being one of the best No. 9’s in world football, but because he is not consistent enough and fails to make the difference in low periods, he cannot quite be considered in that bracket.
In the right situation with a team that can give him the keys to the 9 role and allow him to have that confidence in the system and in himself, Vlahović should be one of the top strikers in Europe.
While it is important to be critical of players in a constructive way, let’s not evaluate Vlahović too harshly at a difficult point in his career – and for his team as a whole.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.