While most headlines are focused on the futures of Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland and Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe, it’s Fiorentina striker Dusan Vlahovic — Serie A’s top scorer this season with 16 goals — who has emerged as the most coveted player of the January transfer window.
Always a player with high potential, the Serbia international was signed from FK Partizan for around €2 million when he turned 18 on Jan. 28, 2017, and netted 20 goals from 22 games for Fiorentina’s Primavera side before graduating to the first team in 2019-20.
With 21 goals in 37 Serie A games last season, Vlahovic’s progress has been so remarkable over the past year that he seems to be getting better on a month-by-month basis. He is now starting to look like a complete centre-forward and is not far off being mentioned in the same breath as his two world-class peers.
Until this season, Vlahovic predominantly played in a deep-sitting Fiorentina side where, especially under former coach Beppe Iachini, he was often left to chase shadows. Even once he got hold of the ball, there would often be 40-50 meters left to negotiate his way past multiple defenders, or hold on to the ball to win a free kick or lay it off.
This season, however, under Vincenzo Italiano, Vlahovic has prospered in a far more proactive and aggressive side in which many of his goals have come after possession has been regained from successful pressure high up the pitch. In the calendar year of 2021 he scored 41 goals from 56 games in all competitions from an average of 2.8 shots per game, while an xG of 10.4 for 16 Serie A goals this season is also worth noting.
Having already rebuffed repeated attempts to extend his contract, which expires in 2023, Vlahovic, who turns 22 at the end of the month, looks set to depart. But with every top club in Europe after him, and a potential transfer fee of €80m to consider, which club would suit the free-scoring Fiorentina star? ESPN has assessed the moves open to…
Source : espn
