It wasn’t so long ago that we were hearing that Juventus CEO Damien Comolli and the representation for soon-to-be out-of-contract striker Dusan Vlahovic were going to sit down around Easter and discuss a potential new deal. At that time, a lot of signs pointed toward Juve and Vlahovic hammering out a short-term contract extension — the momentum was growing and the scheduled talks were looking like a clear sign of that.
However, talks look to have suddenly stopped.
Like, fully stopped.
According to La
Gazzetta dello Sport’s very large front-page story in Thursday morning’s edition, any sort of talks between Juventus and Vlahovic have been postponed until the end of the season. That means, in about 75 days, Vlahovic’s tenure as a Juventus player could very well be over. The season finale against Torino is even closer than that. And it appears that no resolution about Vlahovic’s contract status at Juventus will really be known — or even really talked about much — until we know for sure as to whether the Bianconeri have qualified for the Champions League or not.
That could be part of the plan, of course. Or it could be a sign that things are heading toward an inevitable split like we’ve thought for much of the past year with no contract extension (or summer sale in 2025) actually happening.
When asked about Vlahovic’s contract status at an event earlier this week where he met members of the Italian press, Comolli said the following: “Don’t expect any news on his contract renewal before the end of the season.”
Previous reporting has said that Juventus are attempting to sign Vlahovic to a short-term contract extension that would see the Serbian striker cut his Serie A-high €12 million net salary in half to around €6 million a season. Considering his reluctance to spread out his salary in the past, it would be easy to assume that Vlahovic and his camp might not be totally hot on taking a 50% pay cut.
But, as continues to be the case, the talk around other potential destinations aren’t exactly a consistent presence surrounding Vlahovic, who is currently out injured after picked up a minor muscle injury while warming up to come on as a substitute during Juventus’ win over Genoa on Easter Monday.
With all this being said, La Gazzetta believes that the delay in talks with Juventus about trying to get close or even finalize a contract extension could very well re-open the door for somebody like former manager Max Allegri and AC Milan to come on in and try to sign him on a free transfer over the summer. It could very well end up being dependent on Milan offloading summer signing Christopher Nkunku all of one year after bringing him in from Chelsea for €37 million. But with Milan being a potential landing spot that has been suggested before, they will surely will be a more concrete option if talks with Juve continue to be a can kicked down the road.
