As we get ready for the final weekend of July, it looks as though Juventus aren’t yet totally ready to quit their old fling of the last 4 1/2 years. That is, it seems as though Juve have picked up the phone and called their ex — or in this case, their former No. 9.
As the wait for a new striker continues, the door is open to that potentially being the same one as last season has come back into the picture again.
Yes, that’s right, folks — Juventus and Dusan Vlahovic are reportedly talking again. That
is according to a report from Tuttosport on Wednesday, which details that talks have reopened between the two sides as a result of Juventus’ current lack of options at the striker position and the fact that the strikers they have tried to sign this summer — namely Randal Kolo Muani of Paris Saint-Germain — not named Jeff Ekhator are still being paid by their current employers rather than arriving at J Medical to start their new journey in Turin.
The two sides have not necessarily re-engaged in negotiations again, per Tuttosport. But they are talking — ya know, keeping it casual after what everybody thought it was a final breakup. Or something like that.
But the potential hiccup in Vlahovic actually signing another contract at Juventus is the same one we’ve been pretty much known for weeks, if not more: The money. Because, with Vlahovic, it’s always going to be the money.
Tuttosport repeats that Juventus’ stance on the contract they’re offering up has not changed over the last few weeks — a two-year deal worth €6.5 million net per season and around €5 million worth of a signing bonus. But, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, Vlahovic wants more than that. According to Tuttosport’s reporting in this piece, he wants to a salary of at least €7 million net per season and a signing bonus double of what Juve have offered up.
Yeah, not the kind of difference that one might consider a middle ground could be met, but still that’s a lot of money to pay somebody who just a few weeks earlier you were paying the final bits of a Serie A-high €12 million net a season salary.
Or, as Tuttosport put it, “Juve is still keeping the deal open, negotiating to improve their deal, looking for a way to get closer to the player.”
Considering Vlahovic’s options seem rather limited at this point of the summer, you have to believe that the Bianconeri — especially new CEO Giovanni Carnevali — have some leverage. If they are the best option that Vlahovic still has, at what point does he circle back to it? Or will he just go somewhere else all together because Juventus never gave him what he wanted financially?
So if you thought we were done writing about Vlahovic on BWRAO — guess again.
