Dusan Vlahovic was, for at least a month or two, the most written name across the Arsenal sphere leading up to and in the January transfer window of 2021. The Serbian forward was heavily linked to a potential move to north London but instead joined Juventus.
football.london learned that Edu was doing everything possible to try and convince the imposing forward to switch to the Gunners but ultimately failed. However, Arsenal are finally set to see the forward step onto the Emirates Stadium turf next month.
According to the Italian outlet La Stampa via JuveFC, The Old Lady will face the Gunners instead of Barcelona, who had been tipped to play in north London on December 17. Vlahovic is currently away with the Serbia national side at the World Cup in Qatar.
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However, Serbia face a difficult task getting out of their group which contains Brazil, Switzerland and Cameroon. It is very possible that Vlahovic’s side are eliminated early on and therefore return to prepare for the restart of club football.
Vlahovic never looked likely to make the switch to Arsenal despite such heavy links to the Gunners. He explained upon his arrival in Turin why he chose to move to a fellow Italian side from Fiorentina.
"Juventus represents pride, tradition, family,” he said. “Juventus are always there until the last minute; they never give up.
"The team always comes first. I am at the disposal of the coach and my teammates, who I will try to help in the best way possible.
“We always want more, and we want to improve in the future. I want to make Juventus proud. We will always fight for all goals, as they say, fino alle fine!”
He scored seven goals in 15 Serie A games following his move from La Viola. This season he has six in 10 but has recently been sidelined with abductor problems.
Juventus, meanwhile, have been a shadow of the title challenging Bianconeri of the past. Massimiliano Allegri watched on as his former side AC Milan won the Scudetto and this season things have not particularly improved.
Juve sit in third but are 10 points off pace-setters, Napoli. In contrast, Arsenal have been on the hunt for their first Premier League title in 19 years and sit five points clear of Manchester City at the summit of English football.
Gabriel Jesus ended up being the forward they chose to sign and while the former Manchester City forward may have a goal less than his Serbian counterpart in the league, his six assists have complimented his teammate as his presence has raised the level of the Gunners.
Vlahovic has just one assist to his name and in reflection, perhaps a target man figure like the 22-year-old wouldn’t have been as effective.
Yet both could face-off, if they are eliminated from the World Cup early, in the friendly on December 17. It is sure to be interesting as to the response from the crowd that Vlahovic will receive from the crowd.
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