‘Vlahovic to choose Juventus over Arsenal’

Dusan Vlahovic

Arsenal’s pursuit of Fiorentina’s coveted striker Dusan Vlahovic appears to have hit the buffers amid reports that the Serbian has agreed terms with Serie A rivals Juventus.

The Turin club are in discussions with Fiorentina on their €65m valuation of Vlahovic and his agent has suggested they are not considering offers from Arsenal or their north London rivals Tottenham. Fiorentina want to cash in on Vlahovic this month with Juve’s hierarchy willing to allocate more funds to their January budget to sign the talented 21-year-old.

A report in Italian newspaper La Gazzetta Dello Sport claims Juventus have reached an agreement with Vlahovic’s agents over a five-year deal, as they get set to make an official €60m bid to La Viola.

ALSO READ: Fiorentina willing to sell Vlahovic for €80m

Fiorentina’s sporting director, Daniele Prade, told Sportitalia: “It’s an important valuation, over €70m as a lump sum with no swap deals and no payment structures. The president [Rocco Commisso] has imposed it on us. All of our doors are open in this situation, because we need to understand what the players and his agents really want to do.

“We received some important offers for him. Offers that were very substantial but we never got any feedback from his agents. On our side, there has always been great transparency. I refer to what Joe Barone [Fiorentina’s chief executive] said, all our doors are open.

“We’re ready to sit down at a table and talk. We made various important offers for a contract extension, and we also have had a few offers to sell him in a strong way.

“I’m saying this because our club makes €75m a year and we can’t afford to lose a valuable asset for free.

ALSO READ: Fiorentina willing to sell Vlahovic for €80m

“They were all valid and satisfactory offers, with payment methods that suited us. We couldn’t go ahead with the deal because there was never any contact with the player’s agents.”

Vlahovic came to prominence last season when he scored 21 goals in 40 appearances for Fiorentina, and has continued his impressive form with 20 goals in 24 games in all competitions this campaign.