Arsenal go back for Dušan Vlahović
He is out of favor at Juventus, they have brought in a replacement already, he is a previous target for Arsenal. It is a match made in heaven for the January Transfer Window
I like to say that the January transfer window is the window of castoffs and compromises.
It is not the ideal time to be a buyer and the players that you can buy usually come with the issue of being a castoff from their team, not doing well on their current team, a player that is not in high demand, or is massively more expensive than they might be in the summer transfer window.
This is because it is just harder to get moves done in the middle of the season with little bedding in time, compressed timelines, and the season going on with teams not fully sure where they are or pushing to hit the goals that they want.
This is what makes Juventus striker Dušan Vlahović the almost platonic ideal of a January transfer.
He hasn’t exactly settled and met expectations since he moved 3 years ago. Juventus look like they are close to bringing in a replacement for him in Randal Kolo Muani. That checks the boxes for a player that is an outcast and would be available.
What makes him a compromise is that he just hasn’t performed all that great this season.
This isn’t horrid but it isn’t full of green flags that would make you certain this would be a hit transfer.
The pros:
He takes lots of shots, 2.7 from open play
His shot quality is good, especially for the volume of the shots he is taking
He gets into solid locations for receiving the ball
Good size, sweet ball striking that looks great in a highlight reel
He’s available
The cons:
His finishing looks very poor
He is a zero outside of the penalty area
He doesn’t look like the answer to the problems Arsenal have in attack
Looking at a bit of a longer timeline for him, here is the radar for his 2022-23 through 2024-25 seasons in Serie A, Champions League and Europa League:
The shot numbers look solid but that is really about it when you look at this. This isn’t a small sample size either, this is 72.4 nineties of playing time here. I get the Juventus haven’t exactly been great over that run but it basically who he is at this point.
Here is this year compared to last year. Max Allergri was supposedly the problem but he looks like the same player now under Thiago Motta.
Even going back to his Fiorentina days what he has produced has not really changed.
Kai Havertz hasn’t exactly been the best performer as a striker this season (with caveats that he is often asked to play positions/roles other than striker) and Vlahovic doesn’t exactly look like he is offering more than that.
The big issue right now at Arsenal is also that the team is having a finishing problem and adding a player that rates as a very below average finisher doesn’t scream that we are solving that problem.
Over a large sample size (250+ shots) here in top competitions he has been a below average finisher, and it doesn’t seem like a fluke with him putting up bad post shot xG numbers too.
I have never been particularly enthusiastic about this player and felt a sense of relief when he chose Juventus over Arsenal to not have to try and put that aside and root for him to prove me wrong. I don’t think my opinion has particularly changed in the intervening years since.
Maybe I can talk myself into a loan deal, looking at the injuries and the pure numbers Arsenal in attack, beggars can’t be choosers, but man I don’t love it. I will give this the full treatment if this gains more steam.
All I can think is, here we go again.
