Dusan Vlahovic is struggling with a groin injury which forced him to the sidelines in Serbia-Cameroon, so Football Italia looks at his injury story at Juventus.
The 22-year-old remained on the bench in Serbia’s 3-3 draw against Cameroon today and coach Dragan Stojković has admitted that the striker’s fitness is a matter of concern for his national team.
Clearly, the same goes for Juventus who had to cope without their star in the last five games before the World Cup break, four in Serie A and one in the Champions League.
Vlahovic didn’t have a worrying injury record at Fiorentina, where he hadn’t missed a single match since 2019-2020, when he started getting regular playing time with the senior team.
He looked in shape also during his first months in Turin, featuring in 21 games from 21 and scoring nine goals. He suffered a groin injury at the end of 2021-22, missing four Nations League games with his national team in June, but was again fully fit when this season kicked off in August.
The Serbia international played 14 games out of the opening 15, only resting against his former club Fiorentina on September 3.
Things have gone uphill since the end of October. Vlahovic registered his last competitive appearance at a club level on October 25, when he played 70 minutes in a 4-3 loss against Benfica in the Champions League.
He was supposed to be back for Juventus-Inter on November 6, but was eventually not available and remained out of action until the World Cup break.
Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri said the striker was not fully fit before their last Serie A match with Lazio on November 13, but Vlahovic played 45 minutes in Serbia’s 5-1 win over Bahrain just five days later, scoring one goal.
His agent Darko Ristic admitted before the World Cup that Vlahovic’s physical issue was ‘unpleasant’ but hoped his client would have been 100% fit for the game against Brazil.
He was then introduced for the final 24 minutes of Serbia’s 2-0 loss against Brazil this past Thursday but hasn’t yet recovered, remaining on the bench for the entire match against Cameroon today and it’s still unclear when he’ll be fully fit again.