The dust is starting to settle after reports came out Wednesday that Dusan Vlahovic’s time was coming to an end and the Serbian striker is heading toward the exits at Continassa when his contract expires in less than a month. Vlahovic left the club’s headquarters quickly shortly before those reports came out, speeding out of the front gates and driving away for the last time as a Juve player.
As afternoon turned into night in Turin, we got confirmation of it.
Juventus Director of Football Strategy
Giorgio Chiellini confirmed Wednesday night that Vlahovic is leaving the club after the two sides could not agree to a new contract that would keep the 26-year-old striker that is responsible for the Bianconeri forking over €80 million-plus to Fiorentina 4 1/2 years ago in a club-record deal for a January signing. Chiellini, a former teammate of Vlahovic when he first signed with Juve in 2022, didn’t have much to say, but said enough to get his point across both in terms of the player’s future and how the club felt about what he was asking for with a new salary.
Here is what Chiellini said regarding things end with Vlahovic after contract talks broke off once and for all:
“I am very sad, he cared about Juve right up to the last minute. He is a serious professional. With these figures, he won’t remain in Italy, so it is only fair and legitimate that he is seeking a different type of salary.”
(Source: Football Italia)
Chiellini just straight up saying “With these figures, he won’t remain in Italy” tells you all you need to know about what Vlahovic’s camp were asking for when it comes to an annual salary. And what those demands, you ask? Well, according to Tuttosport, it went a little something like this:
- Annual salary of €8 million net
- Sign-on fee of €8 million
Do the math and that’s basically … €12 million a season if it was indeed a two-year deal that we’ve previously heard about. You know, the same €8 million base salary plus the €4 million in loyalty bonuses that added up to the €12 million net salary he has earned the last couple of years.
So, essentially, Vlahovic was asking for the same thing he was earning the last couple of years? Yeah, you can understand why Juventus’ front office, as much as they might have wanted to keep him around ultimately decided to go their separate ways because those demands were just not feasible in this current economic climate. Tuttosport added that Juventus’ final contract offer to Vlahovic was for €6.5 million net a season and a €3 million commission.
This is the same type of thing that we heard when the two sides were trying to talk about a contract during the 2024-25 season, too. Don’t forget that. Remember when Vlahovic didn’t want to spread out his Serie A-high salary over two seasons in the kind of way that other Juventus players had done in the last couple of years? That was something former sporting chief Cristiano Giuntoli seemed dead set on trying to see happen, only for Vlahovic (and his agent) pretty much reject that, setting up a situation where it looked like he was bound to leave last summer as the club tried to at least break even on his remaining book value.
That didn’t happen, with Vlahovic staying for the final year of his contract despite plenty of indications earlier in the summer of 2025 that it wouldn’t be the case. The risk of him leaving on a free was there more than ever, even with the club and Vlahovic’s camp trying to get some sort of deal done.
That obviously hasn’t happened yet, and now he’s about to leave for free. Funny how it all works out in the end.
