Fiorentina owner Rocco B. Commisso has claimed that Dusan Vlahovic made the wrong choice in joining Juventus in January, having struggled since making the switch. It comes after Arsenal were reportedly rejected by the Serbian for a possible January transfer.
Instead, the Gunners didn’t sign a single player, opting to trim down their squad further with a number of squad options leaving. That left Mikel Arteta short on numbers at times though, with the side eventually missing out on a top four place.
Despite all that, the Spaniard had defended the decision to not sign anyone back in February, saying: “We had a clear plan of what we can do but then it has to be doable. Edu and his team have done a great job. We are very clear we only want the best people and the best players at this club. When we are in a rush and the reasons to get a player on board are not the right ones we didn’t do it.”
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One of the players heavily linked with a move was Vlahovic, who had impressed at Fiorentina up to that point. The Serbia international had shown plenty of promise at just 22-years-old, with the Gunners in need of a goal scoring forward.
While an approach is said to have been made, the striker turned down the move in favour of Juventus late in the window. Since joining the Bianconeri, he has scored seven league goals in 15 appearances.
However, that has led Fiorentina owner Commisso to come out and criticise his decision to leave the club. He said, via GIFN: “I don’t know how many months they (Vlahovic’s camp) had been speaking to Juventus for, but a week later, after he didn’t want Arsenal, Real [Madrid], and Atletico, Juventus came forward and we struck a deal.
“The situation went like this: but if they signed a contract with us, he would have done better than how he is doing at Juventus.” It shows that, perhaps, the Gunners dodged a bullet by not signing the forward when they did.
While Vlahovic is no longer an option, the attention of Arteta will turn to the forwards that they can sign this summer with the right profile for the club.
