Juventus agree £62.8m fee with Fiorentina for Dusan Vlahovic; striker has completed for his medical; Fiorentina want to sell Vlahovic this month; Arsenal and Tottenham were interested in the striker
Friday 28 January 2022 15:19, UK
Dusan Vlahovic has completed his Juventus medical ahead of his £62.8m move from Fiorentina.
Juve and Fiorentina had been in negotiations for some time over a fee for Vlahovic and finally agreed a price on Tuesday.
Fiorentina want to sell the 21-year-old Serbia international, who is keen to make the move to Turin, this month to maximise their profit, as he has just 18 months remaining on his contract.
Arsenal and Tottenham were admirers of Vlahovic but were unable to meet Fiorentina's asking price.
Fiorentina are now targeting Basel's Arthur Cabral as a replacement for Vlahovic.
Fiorentina's sporting director, Daniele Prade, told Sportitalia: "It's an important valuation, over €70m as a lump sum with no swap deals and no payment structures. The president [Rocco Commisso] has imposed it on us.
"All of our doors are open in this situation, because we need to understand what the players and his agents really want to do.
"We received some important offers for him. Offers that were very substantial but we never got any feedback from his agents. On our side, there has always been great transparency. I refer to what Joe Barone [Fiorentina's chief executive] said, all our doors are open.
"We're ready to sit down at a table and talk. We made various important offers for a contract extension, and we also have had a few offers to sell him in a strong way.
"I'm saying this because our club makes €75m a year and we can't afford to lose a valuable asset for free.
"They were all valid and satisfactory offers, with payment methods that suited us. We couldn't go ahead with the deal because there was never any contact with the player's agents."
Vlahovic came to prominence last season when he scored 21 goals in 40 appearances for Fiorentina, and has continued his impressive form with 20 goals in 24 games in all competitions this campaign.
Dharmesh Sheth told The Transfer Show that Dusan Vlahovic only ever had eyes for Juventus...
"Arsenal were interested but Sky in Italy are now reporting a €75m deal has been agreed between Juventus and Fiorentina for Dusan Vlahovic.
"It's thought that Vlahovic only wanted to go to Juventus. Fiorentina probably would not want to do business with Juventus - there is a big, big rivalry there. They probably wanted to direct Vlahovic towards the English offers.
"The Fiorentina hierarchy have been very public about being open to selling Vlahovic in this transfer window, but they were also very public in saying, 'the agent and player are not coming back to us'. I think it was Fiorentina's way of putting the onus on Vlahovic, because they know the fans will be very disappointed to see him go to Juventus.
"But Fiorentina have been a bit hamstrung with this because he's only got 18 months left on his contract. They have offered him a new deal that would have made him the highest-paid player in Fiorentina's history. He didn't want to sign it."
Arsenal retained a strong interest in Vlahovic but ultimately found it difficult to complete a deal this month due to the size of the transfer fee needed to sign the striker.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted there is a "cloud" hanging over Arsenal's forward options, with former captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang dropped for disciplinary reasons and Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah into the final six months of their contracts.
Arteta has said the Gunners are working hard on new arrivals and that they "are open" to making a big signing if it is financially viable.
Meanwhile, Sky Sports News reported in August Tottenham were interested in signing Vlahovic.
Italian sources also say Vlahovic's preference is to join a side competing in the Champions League.
Arsenal have not qualified for the competition for the past four seasons, while Spurs have not played in the competition since the 2019/20 season. Both clubs are currently two points off the top four.
Vlahovic joined Fiorentina from Partizan Belgrade in 2018. As well as making an impression in Italy, the striker also has seven goals in 14 games for Serbia.
"I am the Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Belgrade, I will play for the biggest clubs."
Valeri Bojinov was leading the line for Partizan as he witnessed a pimply 15-year-old become the club's youngest-ever player, goalscorer and debutant in Belgrade's Eternal derby against Red Star.
Week after week, Vlahovic repeated his aspirations to Bojinov. It wasn't long until the former Manchester City striker urged then-Fiorentina sporting director Italo Corvino to fork out £1.7m for his young understudy.
"He was crazy, really crazy," Bojinov said. "But I liked his arrogance. I thought he would become a strong player."
Who will be on the move in January?
The January transfer window opens on Saturday January 1, 2022 and closes at 11pm on Monday January 31.
Keep up-to-date with all the latest transfer news and rumours in our dedicated Transfer Centre blog on Sky Sports' digital platforms. You can also catch up with the ins, outs and analysis on Sky Sports News.
Follow every Arsenal game in the Premier League this season with our live blogs on the Sky Sports website and app, and watch match highlights for free shortly after full-time.
Want the Arsenal latest? Bookmark our Arsenal news page, check out Arsenal's fixtures and Arsenal's latest results, watch Arsenal goals and video, keep track of the Premier League table and see which Arsenal games are coming up live on Sky Sports.
Get all this and more - including notifications sent straight to your phone - by downloading the Sky Sports Scores app and setting Arsenal as your favourite team.
Hear the best Premier League reaction and expert analysis with the Essential Football and Gary Neville podcasts, keep up-to-date with our dedicated Transfer Centre, follow the Sky Sports social accounts on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, and find out how to get Sky Sports.
