Fiorentina director Joe Barone insists the contract extension offer for Dusan Vlahovic ‘won’t change’ and confirms Jonathan Ikone is among the club’s targets for January.
Vlahovic’s deal expires in June 2023, but President Rocco Commisso has already announced that the 21-year-old doesn’t want to extend his stay at the club.
“We’ve offered Dusan the highest salary in the history of Fiorentina,” Barone told La Repubblica newspaper as quoted by Calciomercato.com. “We’ve made the same offer multiple times, and both he and his agent made us understand that they would not accept it.
“The offer is still on the table and won’t change, but we can’t know what will happen in the future.”
Many big clubs in Europe have been linked with signing the Serbian forward. Arsenal seem to be the most interested club at the moment, but Vlahovic doesn’t want to move to the Emirates Stadium.
Vlahovic is the second most prolific striker in Europe’s top 5 leagues in 2021, with 32 goals in 41 appearances.
He’s on an €800,000 a-year deal at the club and rejected a new €4m-a-year contract.
Fiorentina are on the lookout for a new right winger and Lille’s Ikoné is reportedly close to moving to the Artemio Franchi in a €15m deal.
“We know what to do and we have been working for a long time,” said Barone. “We follow Ikoné and we like him, he would be ideal for our playing style.”
Fiorentina are just six points behind a Champions League placement and Vincenzo Italiano has given a solid identity to the team
“Italiano was the perfect storm,” Barone said. “He brought new ideas, involving everyone and proving that the team was not so bad compared to last season.”
#Fiorentina, #Barone: 'La proposta per #Vlahovic è ancora valida! #Ikoné ci piace, Europa? Ipocrita non sperarci…' https://t.co/MIxebpUIEE pic.twitter.com/A1iUP99916
— calciomercato.com (@cmdotcom) December 15, 2021