Dusan Vlahovic: His debut with Besiktas leaves Juventus with no regrets
Dusan Vlahovic is now a Besiktas player, following a controversial split from Juventus. Welcomed as a hero by Turkish fans, his first official appearance in his new jersey was actually anything but spectacular. The Serbian center forward played the final half-hour of the match in Istanbul against Kaunas Zalgiris, a Europa League qualifying match. However, despite the 3-0 victory for Vincenzo Italiano’s team, the statistics do not do justice to the debut of the striker who has just arrived in Turkey from Turin.
Left on the bench in favor of South Korean Oh Hyeon-Gyu (who, incidentally, broke the deadlock by scoring the first goal after just 6 minutes), Vlahovic was brought on by Italiano in the 60th minute. Beşiktaş fans welcomed him with loud chants of “Dusan, Dusan,” but the former Juventus No. 9’s impact on the game was negligible, if not nonexistent. Having entered the game with the score already at 3-0, the Serbian managed just one shot on goal in half an hour, with a calculated xG of 0.05 and an xG on shots on goal of just 0.01. Things were even worse when it came to assists (zero) and tackles: 2 out of 5 overall and 0 out of 2 in aerial duels. There’s still time to redeem himself, but this first taste of his new reality confirms the struggles of recent years for a striker whose touch seems to have been off for quite some time.
After all, the path that led Vlahovic to Istanbul was not without obstacles. After leaving Juventus when his contract expired in early July, the Serbian spent several weeks as a free agent, held back in part by what were considered exorbitant demands from his entourage: according to press reports, his agents reportedly demanded up to 15 million euros in commissions alone from interested European clubs—a figure that had deterred many suitors, including Barcelona, which ultimately ruled him out, and Atlético Madrid, which had slowed down negotiations. The path to Besiktas was paved by the mediation of agent Federico Pastorello and, above all, the determination of club president Serdal Adalı, who had publicly stated: “We are working and talking with Vlahovic.”
A decisive factor in the Serbian striker’s decision was the very presence of Vincenzo Italiano on the Besiktas bench. The two know each other well: it was the Sicilian coach who transformed Vlahovic into one of Europe’s most prolific strikers during their time together at Fiorentina in the first half of the 2021–2022 season, when the forward truly broke out, scoring 17 goals in just 21 games, before transferring to Juventus for 90 million euros in January 2022. A professional and personal bond that clearly tipped the scales, convincing Vlahovic to accept the three-year contract worth 10 million euros net per season offered by the Istanbul club.
His departure from Juventus, however, caused quite a stir, amid social media controversy and a few too many bitter remarks. The words Vlahovic spoke upon his arrival in Turkey—in which he recalled how the black and white colors had accompanied him from Partizan to Juventus and now to Besiktas—sounded like a slap in the face to the Bianconeri fans, who were already irritated by the departure. Furious reactions erupted on social media, while the player later tried to tone things down with a long message on Instagram, thanking the city of Turin, the club, and the fans: “I’m leaving Turin with many memories, with gratitude, and with the knowledge that I’ve left a part of myself here,” he wrote, among other things.
Meanwhile, Juventus is looking ahead and working on multiple transfer fronts. Among the issues still to be resolved is the situation of the surplus midfielders: Koopmeiners, Miretti, and Arthur are all on the market, and Arthur in particular—whose long-awaited contract termination is imminent—could follow in Vlahovic’s footsteps by joining Besiktas. Vincenzo Italiano, who had already worked with the Brazilian during his loan spell at Fiorentina, is reportedly ready to welcome him back to his squad. On the incoming front, however, the Bianconeri are targeting a world-class signing in midfield: at the top of Luciano Spalletti’s list are Franck Kessié, a free agent following his stint in Saudi Arabia, and Youssouf Fofana, whom Milan’s new coach Ruben Amorim has reportedly already ruled out of his plans. In short, for Vlahovic, the Juventus chapter is definitively closed: now it’s up to him to prove, on Besiktas’s home field, that the spark that has been missing in recent years can still be reignited.
