ALLIANZ STADIUM, TORINO, ITALY – 2025/08/24: Dusan Vlahovic of Juventus Fc gestures during the Serie A football match between Juventus Fc and Parma Calcio. Juventus Fc wins 2-0 over Parma Calcio. (Photo by Marco Canoniero/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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What kind of future does Dusan Vlahovic have at Juventus?
The Serb came off the bench against Parma on the opening weekend of the season to score a goal, only his second goal in the last six months, and secured all three points for The Old Lady.
Juve laboured for parts of the match, but did just about enough to bring home a victory.
Vlahovic came on as a substitute for Jonathan David, who scored on his debut, with 10 minutes remaining.
If Vlahovic is to stay in Turin this season, this is likely to be a snapshot of his campaign: a reserve, receiving fleeting moments of playing time.
The 25-year-old’s time at Juve has been rocky, to say the least. Arriving with massive expectations, the former Fiorentina man hasn’t come close to showing the kind of form he did in Florence.
Three-and-a-half years and 59 goals later, Vlahovic may well have just netted his last in Bianconero colours.
The issue isn’t perhaps his output in itself, 59 goals from 146 games isn’t the worst record in the world, but it’s the price tag and his salary which is held against him.
Juve paid Fiorentina some $90m for Vlahovic in the winter of 2022, and handed him a hefty $14m-per-season contract to fend off interest from Arsenal.
And this is where the mistake was made. For a start, Vlahovic was never worth that kind of money, neither in transfer fee nor salary. Yet Juve paid it, and in this sense it’s hardly the Serb’s fault.
On the other hand, that kind of transfer fee brings expectations, the sort that is often unrealistic and can never be reached.
Vlahovic has struggled for large parts of his time in Turin. Especially during Max Allegri’s second stint, where he was often isolated up front with little means of support from a team that did the bare minimum to win games.
Even Gabriel Batistuta in his prime would’ve struggled for goals.
On the other hand, Vlahovic struggled against teams who would set up a low block which, considering he now played for Juventus, worked against him.
At Fiorentina, teams would attack and thus leave space for him to score goals. At Juve, he lacked the technical brilliant to wriggle past opposing defenders to create space.
His confidence hit a nadir last season when Thiago Motta essentially washed his hands off him once Randal Kolo Muani was signed.
The Frenchman has more to his game and offered the kind of all-round attacking play Motta wanted from a striker. When he was sacked, many felt Vlahovic would be back in the team under new coach Igor Tudor.
He was, but the old familiar pattern reemerged: Vlahovic struggled, even when service was provided. Vlahovic featured in the top five for ‘big chances missed’ in Serie A games in two consecutive seasons, topping the charts in 2023/24.
Rumours of a move to Milan and a reunion with Allegri persisted all summer long, but with the club now set to sign Christopher Nkunku from Chelsea, Vlahovic may have no other choice but to remain in Turin for one more season, then leave as a free agent in the summer.
A fresh start is best for all concerned, but it may not happen as soon as Vlahovic would like it to.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmetgates/2025/08/28/dusan-vlahovic-scored-against-parma-but-where-does-his-future-lie/
