Tottenham Hotspur have reportedly reignited their interest in Fiorentina’s emerging star forward Dusan Vlahovic. Despite failing to table an official offer for the 21-year-old during the summer transfer, Spurs have maintained a close look at the young player to replace their current club captain Harry Kane who has been on Manchester City’s radar.
Spurs failed to go all out for the young Fiorentina forward due to Daniel Levy’s refusal to succumb to Manchester City’s transfer pressure despite the City tabling a reported transfer fee of £150-million for Harry Kane. But now, the club Sporting Director Fabio Paratici seems to be preparing for the 28-year-old England international potential exit, as the player is determined to make a move to a club with a high possibility of winning a trophy.
WHO IS DUSAN VLAHOVIC?
The Serbian was a former Partizan forward, graduating from their youth rank and making his senior debut for the club in 2016 under coach Ivan Tomic, he become the youngest debutant in the history of Partizan. The Serbian made 27 appearances for the club between 2016 – 2018, registering three goals before signing five years preliminary contract with Fiorentina in June 2017 and the deal was later made official on his 18th birthday, on January 28, 2018.
Vlahovic made his debut for Fiorentina in an away match against Inter Milan on September 25, 2018, which ended in a 2 – 1 loss. On August 18, 2019, Vlahovic opened his goal-scoring account for Florence in the 3rd round of the 2019/20 Coppa Italian against Monza in a 3 – 1 win as the lively forward netted a brace.
The mesmerizing young forward came to the limelight last season, grabbing the headline due to his consistent scoring ability, finding the back of the net 21 times (including his first hat-trick against Benevento in march 2021), coming behind Luis Muriel, Romelu Lukaku, and Christiano Ronaldo on Serie A goal-scoring chart. The youngster’s emergence attracted a lot of suitors from top clubs in Spain, Italy, and England.
Upon several interests for his signature, Vlahovic disclosed that: “I said many times that I decided to stay in Florence, nobody else had to decided for me. When the coach arrived, and the squad we out together, it’s good. At the end of the season, we will see if it proved to be the right decision, but I followed my heart. I am young, my moment will come and I just need to continue working like this.”
This season, his impressive form has continued to attract the spotlight with the Serbian forward scoring five goals in four matches across all competition.
WHAT WILL DUSAN VLAHOVIC OFFER TO SPURS COMPARED TO HARRY KANE?
The Belgrade-born striker is a comfortable goal-scorer with lethal finishing which is evident in his goal/assist ratio last season, contributing to 23 goals out of his club’s lowly 47 goals scored. This shows his ability to handle pressure and responsibility considering how reliant the club were on Vlahovic’s output which the 21-year-old handled incredibly to save the team from relegating. The same attribute could be seen in Harry Kane and Tottenham’s fairy tale, as the England international has been the club’s saving grace since his breakthrough season at White Hart Lane.
Standing at 6ft 3 in, Vlahovic has a good physical presence and offers more threats around the box and in the final third which makes him unpredictable and difficult to limit his goal chances. He tends to drift to the wing and create an opening for himself to curl the ball into the net. The same attribute is also notable about Harry Kane’s game, the 28-yrs-old forward is known to be dangerous around the opponent’s box as he’s capable of scoring a screamer from the edge of the box.
The Serbian is capable of playing as a target man due to his body frame and holding onto the ball to retain possession before laying a pass for his teammates to have a goal-scoring opportunity. While he also tends to win a lot of aerial duels (like Dzeko and Giroud), taking into account his 260 attempted aerial duels and winning 114 which was the third-highest tally in the league last season.
HIS HE A FIT FOR NUNO ESPIRITO SANTO’S SYSTEM?
Considering the manager’s previous style and selection at his former club Wolverhampton Wanderers, the Portuguese manager looks to be the right manager to take Vlahovic’s game to the next level. Putting how the manager handled the Mexican forward Raul Jimenez into perspective, Vlahovic’s signing will give the manager almost a like-a-like player to the Mexican who became a household name under Nuno Espirito Santo at Wolves.
Vlahovic’s presence at the frontline will give Spurs’ pacey wingers like Son, Moura, Bryan Gil, and the likes the chance to get behind the opponent’s defense with the Serbian using his movement and physical attribute to draw the defenders away from their position, opening spaces for his teammates.
Raul Jimenez was undoubtedly successful under Nuno Espirito Santo and the same looks to be the story of the young Serbian forward if he comes under the guidance of the Portuguese descent manager.
