Vlahovic: a goal for every 19 balls played. Only Haaland in Europe does better

Max Allegri would shrug. The Juventus coach, at least on the face, gives little importance to the balls touched by Dusan Vlahovic. “For me he can play even one, but if he scores with that, I’m happy.” And the Serbian striker has also adapted well in the match against Roma. At first, he immediately went 1-0 with a superb left-handed free-kick.

Then never mind if, despite playing a good match, he was once again the less involved player among the 22 who started from the start. The 22 touches were however a step forward compared to the nine in Genoa against Sampdoria. And it’s not that Dusan played so much with his teammates at the first against Sassuolo, with a brace: 26 balls. These data, if on the one hand raise a question about Vlahovic’s involvement in the Juventus maneuver, on the other hand they highlight his bomber skills. The Serbian, in these first three days, scores on average a goal for every 19 balls touched. An amazing average, which among the big 9 numbers of Europe that counts is second only to that of that blond monster called Haaland.

the comparison

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The formidable Norwegian forward of Manchester City, 6 goals in the first 4 rounds of the Premier League, scores every 15 balls available (14.8, to be precise). And in England the emphasis is not obsessively placed on the little involvement of the former Borussia Dortmund in Guardiola’s game. Clearly, however, City is one of the most productive teams in the world, offensively speaking. Haaland will not yet be perfectly integrated, but thanks to the work of his teammates he is already traveling at one and a half goals per game on average. Different if the speech is extended to a different center forward like Karim Benzema. Here, perhaps no number 9 in the world is more complete than the French of Real Madrid. One who has gone from 5 goals in the league in the last year of CR7 with the Blancos to score 47 goals in the last 50 official matches with the European champions. The reason is simple: Benzema can do everything. With Ronaldo he touched the dirty work on his shoulder, today he is a total striker, and not only for the realization phase. Three goals in the first three days of La Liga, but even 202 balls touched against Vlahovic’s 57. So there are two questions. The first: how much would Dusan have scored if he had been involved with Juventus as much as Benzema at Real? The purely statistical answer: between 10 and 11 goals. The second: why does the Serbian play just over a quarter of the balls available instead of Karim? And here the discussion is technical and tactical. Benzema is unique in handling the ball even away from goal, okay. And Vlahovic still has a lot to learn away from the opposing area, both quantitatively and qualitatively. On the other hand, without Di Maria, Chiesa and Pogba, Dusan certainly did not have any companions at his disposal at the level of Modric, Vinicius or Kroos to talk to.

the others

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A similar argument could be made with Lewandowski of Barcelona (four centers in the first three games, one goal every 34 touches) or Kane of Tottenham (four in four, one goal every 42 balls played), among other things, just like Benzema, forwards much more experienced than Vlahovic. The exception that represents the rule bears, however, the name and surname of a big boy that Dusan knows very closely: Aleksandar Mitrovic. Serbian and center-forward like the Juve prodigy, so much so that the two will probably compete for the starting shirt in the national team coached by Dragan Stoijkovic at the World Cup. Here, Mitrovic at Fulham scored four goals in the first four days of the Premier League, but despite not playing in a big one, he travels to about 43 balls touched per game. Virtually double that of Vlahovic.

Italians”

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And the great Serie A strikers? Let’s leave Ciro Immobile out of the question, who has a different style of play. And also the Milan strikers, from Rebic to Giroud and Origi, who alternated too much in these first three rounds of the championship. Let’s consider Lukaku instead: the Belgian from Inter scored only one goal, touching 71 balls. He was not particularly active in the development of the Nerazzurri maneuver and at the same time he did not have the effectiveness of Dusan. He similarly compares with Abraham from Roma, who unlocked himself in the match against Juve: a goal for 92 balls played so far. While Osimhen (Napoli) has two goals in three games with an average of 44 balls touched. There are those who are more involved and some less, but no one in Italy, at the moment, has Vlahovic’s killer instinct. One who carries it centers it all right. Just give him that damn ball …