Juve, Vlahovic and the difficult period: abstinence, condition, trust

Dusan Vlahovic hasn’t seen goal in five games. For someone who lives obsessed with goals, it’s a huge problem that needs to be solved as soon as possible. The last time the Serbian celebrated a goal dates back to February 16th: the first leg of the Europa League playoff against Nantes was being played, it was the tenth seal of the season for him. So far, the attacker has played 25 games, even packing six assists: but numbers aside, it is the perception that puts him in the shade more on performance. Beyond the start of the season, in August, when he scored four goals in as many games, and net of the period in which he was out due to groin pain which also affected him at the World Cup in Qatar, the feeling is that the striker has done less than he could have done so far.

ALL ASSISTS FOR HIM

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Last summer Juve built a court of high-level assist men around Vlahovic. The Serbian forward has found Kostic, his national team mate, and Di Maria, the record man in the history of PSG on the last key passage. Their support was added to that of Cuadrado, who had already put Dusan in a position to score several times last year. But the objective of making the center forward perform better up to now has only been achieved in part, partly because the number 9 took time to find his best condition and above all because of the weak contribution he was able to give in matches which he was not the protagonist in the goal area. Fiorentina’s Vlahovic is a faded memory: there he had more field and in any case a different context.

BREAKTHROUGH

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Allegri on several occasions told him to stay calm. The match with Sampdoria, affordable on paper, perhaps comes at the right time to unlock it. In the future, however, he has to work a lot on himself: because Dusan is someone who doesn’t forgive himself for anything and sometimes, when things don’t go his way, he seems to be the first to pull himself into a negative loop that doesn’t do him any good. Vlahovic is one of the most promising centre-forwards in European football, who however has yet to find the perfect balance to perform with the right continuity in a top club. Physical ailments have slowed him down a bit, but he still has to reach that level of maturity by making a quantum leap with his head. And then yes, he will have the road paved for a future as a top player in his role.