Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic makes sense for Paris Saint-Germain as other striker targets are probably unaffordable at the moment.
According to French football expert Jonathan Johnson in his exclusive CaughtOffside column, PSG are not any closer to selling star player Kylian Mbappe, or removing a high earner like Neymar, which means they can’t realistically enter the market for the likes of Victor Osimhen or Harry Kane.
Vlahovic, however, also looks a good fit for PSG right now, as they’ve lacked a focal point up front like this for some time, and the Serbia international could be the ideal kind of front man to get the best out of Mbappe.
“PSG continue to be linked with a number of big-name strikers, but there’s a lot to consider in all this. Firstly, the future of Kylian Mbappe will be key and at this moment in time it still seems unlikely that Real Madrid and PSG will be able to agree a deal for Mbappe this summer, but we’ll see what the next two weeks or so hold,” Johnson explained.
“Two names reported to be on PSG’s radar are Victor Osimhen and Harry Kane, but those two would represent a significant financial outlay, so it’s only realistic to consider those two if we do end up seeing a big sale of someone like Mbappe or Neymar. At this moment in time, neither of those are close to leaving, so that really only leaves Dusan Vlahovic as an affordable option.
“We know Juventus are willing to move Vlahovic on, as it hasn’t really worked out for him since he joined from Fiorentina. He’s a profile that interests a number of clubs across Europe, and he’d offer something a bit different to PSG’s other attacking talents at this moment in time.
“It’s possible he could be gettable even without PSG needing to make a big sale, but there are on or two players on the club’s unwanted list who it could be useful to move on, so we’ll see how that all develops between now and the end of the transfer window, but it’s definitely something on Luis Campos’ list.
“It’s been a couple of years since PSG really had that kind of a focal point to their attack, and it’s arguable that someone like Vlahovic would be more complementary to someone like Mbappe, should he stay, than Lionel Messi was.”
It remains to be seen if a deal will definitely be done, but it perhaps makes sense that PSG view Vlahovic as a more realistic option after his difficult spell at Juve.
The 23-year-old is still young and has time to get back to the kind of form he showed at former club Fiorentina, where he became regarded as one of the finest talents in Europe.