When Juventus signed Dusan Vlahovic for more than 80 million euros from Fiorentina in the winter 2022 transfer window, the Bianconeri thought they were getting one of the finest strikers in all of world football.
At the time, only Erling Haaland was getting more hype among up-and-coming young strikers than Vlahovic, who scored 21 goals for Fiorentina in the previous season and already had 17 goals for the Viola to that point in the season.
Since joining Juventus, Vlahovic has had his moments, but, by and large, he’s been disappointing. In the second half of the 2023/24 season, Vlahovic overcame some injury woes to finish the campaign on fire, scoring 16 goals in total – his highest in a Juventus jersey.
To start the 2024/25 season, Vlahovic has scored twice in four matches, but those two goals came in a brace in a 3-0 win over lowly Hellas Verona, a side fighting to remain in the Italian top flight.
Vlahovic has been poor in all his other matches, failing to score. He hasn’t created a single chance for his teammates, and while he has the traits of being a quality all-around striker, Juventus fans have yet to actually see that materialize on a consistent basis.
Former Juventus midfielder Marco Tardelli had some harsh words of criticism for Vlahovic, stating of the 24-year-old No. 9, “Dušan Vlahovic is becoming a problem for Juventus, he is never decisive when needed.”
Calling Vlahovic “a problem” in an overarching manner may not be fair, because he is their best striker and one of their best players overall. But Juventus have “a” problem with Vlahovic, in the sense that he could indeed be doing more.
Vlahovic, like so many high-priced Juventus players in the post-Cristiano Ronaldo era, simply isn’t getting the job done in big games and isn’t half as consistent as a star player for Juve needs to be.
Right now, Vlahovic is a nailed-on starter for Juve and vital to the team, but that may not last. Thiago Motta worked wonders with Joshua Zirkzee in Bologna, as Zirkzee was a young gunner willing to create; he wasn’t a top goal-scorer, but he lifted Bologna in so many ways when they needed it.
Vlahovic hasn’t really done that frequently enough for Juventus. Considering his massive transfer fee and bloated wages that have hamstrung Juve from making other upgrades, it’s fair for Juventini to expect more and be a little disappointed that 16 goals with mediocre all-around play is the best they’ve gotten so far.
Beating up on Verona isn’t enough. A goose egg against Empoli is clearly not good enough. Juventus want to win Serie A again, and if they want to take down Lautaro Martinez, Marcus Thuram, Mehdi Tehrami, and Inter Milan’s star-studded attack, then they are going to need a whole lot more from Dusan.
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.