Dusan Vlahovic. A name that was constantly on the lips of the Arsenal faithful all month, have somewhat left a scar on the fans.
When a player has been heavily linked to a club but eventually does not join, it usually feels bad.
That’s exactly the story of Vlahovic and Arsenal. The 22-year-old, instead of picking Arsenal’s iconic red and white, went for Juventus’ famous black and white. The Serbian broke his silence, as he spoke to Juventus media, after completing the switch to the Italian giants. “Juventus represents pride, tradition, family. Juventus are always there until the last minute, they never give up.”
He continued, “Today is my birthday, which is really wonderful, a special day for me.”
“This is one of the happiest birthdays I’ve experienced so far. I want to make Juventus proud. We will always fight for all goals.”
I wish him a Happy (not really) Birthday to him.
Arsenal fans will just wonder how easily it could have been the other way around. Although Vlahovic wanted to stay in Italy and preferred moving to Juventus or Inter Milan, had he not received an offer from the Old Lady, the Gunners were ready to pounce on him.
The London side were the best-placed foreign side for his signature, as they had already met Fiorentina’s valuation of the striker.
Despite things now ending the way many would have hoped for, it’s not all gloomy obviously.
The ‘feel-bad’ factor among Arsenal fans can diminish significantly if the Gunners land a coveted center forward before the end of the transfer window.
Lille’s Jonathan David, Real Sociedad’s Alexander Isak and Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin have all been heavily linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium.
To much excitement, Isak was even spotted in London by Arsenal fans. Even though it does not mean much, at least it’s something to distract them for a few hours from the chaotic last days of the transfer window.
Let’s see how the next 48 hours pan out. Either we would be jumping with excitement on February 1st – or be disappointed by the job done by technical director Edu.
Yash Bisht