Since the arrival of Igor Tudor on the Banc de la Juventus in April, replacing Thiago Motta, the Turin club has experienced a period of intense transition. Tudor, a former assistant and connoisseur of the Bianconera house, was called to restore new impetus to a loss and psychologically weakened team. In a few weeks, the Croatian coach tried to impose a more aggressive style, based on a higher pressing and increased verticality, thus breaking with the often prudent approach of his predecessor. If the first results have shown some positive tremors, including a new great position in the race for the Champions League, the collective remains irregular, sometimes slowed down by physical problems and a certain inertia inherited from difficult months. Tudor must also juggle a locker room where several executives – including Dušan Vlahović – wonder about their future. As the end of the season approaches, the challenges for Juventus are multiple.
On the one hand, secure third place in Serie A remains crucial to ensure European income and send a stability signal when the sports management is preparing a potentially very agitated summer transfer window. On the other hand, the new World Cup of clubs, scheduled for June in the United States, represents the opportunity to save a gloomy season by high-level global performances, but also to lay the symbolic bases of the “new cycle” desired by management. Igor Tudor, in this short window, already plays part of its legitimacy: in case of failure, Juventus could be tempted to seek another more prestigious coach to lead its reconstruction. This climate of uncertainty also feeds speculations on the departures of major players, starting with Dušan Vlahović, whose future seems more than ever linked to the next decisions of the club.
Vlahović holder before a departure?
Last January, Juventus had struck a blow by obtaining the loan from Randal Kolo Muani from Paris Saint-Germain. After a dazzling beginnings under Thiago Motta, the French striker, who aligned very good performances (5 goals in 10 Serie A), seemed to leave the starting eleven under Igor Tudor without real explanation: “We work and discuss every day to stay in the match, whatever happens. He learns and tries to give everything. I appreciate it and the group appreciates what it did. He's a full player. He wants to mark and we want him for him, they will come. We will see (if they can play together), it could happen or not. Kolo has worked well, just like Conceiçao. We'll see …Said the Croatian coach. But behind this management of Igor Tudor of his attacker duo hides decisions from the Turin management.
Indeed, according to our information, the priority of Juventus will be to get rid of Dušan Vlahović during the next summer transfer window. The plan is therefore to make it play as much as possible to enhance the Serbian striker, in the hope of selling it better on the summer market. It is for this precise reason that Randal Kolo Muani seems to have been downgraded to the Bianconeri. Nothing to do with his real level, but rather a collateral victim of the management of the Dušan Vlahović file for the next summer transfer window. While discussions for an extension of contract have been arrested for several months between the Piedmontese club and the entourage of the Serb, the future of Vlahović is more and more waged from Turin. Perhaps in England where Premier League clubs have already expressed interest in the past.
