Juventus star Dusan Vlahovic opens up about his failed transfer to Arsenal in January: ‘I just had one club in my mind…’
The Serbia international moved to the Allianz Stadium in an €80m deal from Fiorentina. Arsenal had held talks with the Tuscans and the striker’s entourage, but Vlahovic opted for a move to Turin.
“Maybe my agent knows [about Arsenal’s offer], but I never talked to anyone about it,” he told The Telegraph.
“I just had one club in my mind because Juventus is Juventus. There is nothing else to say. And now I feel honoured to be given this jersey. It’s incredible every time I put it on.
“I definitely identify with their DNA. The Juventus personality coincides with my personality. When you come here you never give up, you fight all the time, you make the sacrifices. This was definitely what I was looking for.”
The 22-year-old scored 29 goals in 45 appearances in 2021-22, managing nine in 21 games with the Old Lady from January.
“Scoring is like flying,” he said. “I was talking about this with a couple of friends and they kept asking me, ‘What do you feel exactly when you score a goal?’ And I said when you score for your team, your teammates, your supporters, friends, it’s something that you only truly understand when you have had that direct experience.
“Great joy, obviously, and it’s a kind of joy I have with my family, but it’s definitely the greatest emotion of all. It’s something that fills me, pervades me completely. And so if I don’t feel that emotion, then I feel low, I feel empty. I have a sense of emptiness. But if I score it is like flying. And once you feel it you have to have it again and again, you have to have that emotion. That’s why I say it’s an addiction. It encourages you all the time.
“It’s something that I live for. Especially when the stadium is packed, you hear all the cheering, all the fans shouting your name. It’s amazing.”
Vlahovic was the most expensive signing in Europe in the winter transfer window but had an immediate impact at the Allianz Stadium, where he scored on his debut against Hellas Verona in February.
“I like high expectations because I like the kind of adrenalin that comes out. I have never really suffered too much from pressure,” said the striker.
“Maybe when I was younger, but not now and in 10 years time, I will probably feel even better about it. I don’t really care too much when people talk about pressure.”
Vlahovic’s contract at the Allianz Stadium runs out in June 2026. In 2021, he was the second-best scorer in Europe’s top five leagues after Robert Lewandowski. He has now scored eight league goals since the start of 2022.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one of his idols, but Vlahovic feels that comparisons with big stars such as Swede are unfair.
“Comparing players with great champions who have scored 400, 500 goals in their careers, who have won 20 or 30 titles, is probably a little unfair,” he said.
“It doesn’t annoy me but it’s also true that when those types of comparison are made and then you make one or two mistakes and the expectations have been hyped then you get critiqued. We all have the right to make mistakes; we are all human. I want to have my own career.”
Dusan Vlahovic exclusive: How it really feels to score a goal – and why he was never joining Arsenal @JBurtTelegraph https://t.co/8BXBgtofQC
— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) June 13, 2022
Hopefully our new legend.