Therefore supporters have naturally been scribing long lists of potential options that have been missed by the club. One such player is Dusan Vlahovic whose name appears to be perpetually cursed to forever be linked like Sebastian Frey or Julian Draxler.
Arsenal were keen on the player back in the January window of 2022 but he left Fiorentina to join Juventus. However, he has not exactly become the world-leading centre-forward like many thought and has suffered in front of goal.
So much so that Juve signed Randal Kolo Muani on loan from PSG who immediately benched the Serbian international and has scored three times in two games. Muani was linked with many clubs but The Old Lady took the initiative to move on the player and are being rewarded, at least in the short term.
Therefore the question is could Arsenal have made a move for Vlahovic? Well, yes, they could have but when looking into it deeper it is perhaps not a surprise that they did not.
First of all, Vlahovic had the chance to move to the club in 2022 and instead chose Juventus. These are not things that the likes of Arteta forget as a quality that he is very keen on is a burning desire to join the club as a priority.
Next comes the return of Vlahovic. As we stand, over the last year, Vlahovic ranks in the 36th percentile of strikers in Europe’s top five leagues in terms of non-penalty goals per 90 (0.32).
£65million signing Kai Havertz is in the 69th percentile (0.48), certainly an indication of where Arsenal can improve in that area, but with a non-penalty goal rate of close to one-in-two rather than lower than one-in-three like Vlahovic is revealing.
Furthermore, the biggest gripe with Havertz has of course been his finishing. This season, Havertz has a non-penalty xG of 9.4 and he has scored nine non-penalty goals in the Premier League.
Whereas Vlahovic has a non-penalty xG of 6.9 and has just four non-penalty goals. Goals per shot 0.07 compared to Havertz’s 0.17. Last season for Vlahovic, 0.13, the season before, 0.12, the season before that, 0.16.
Vlahovic’s goal-per-shot metric for the last four seasons are not higher than Havertz's in either this or last season. Then comes perhaps the biggest reason.
Vlahovic is believed to be the highest-paid player in Serie A with a weekly salary estimated to be in the region of £310,000 per week according to Capology. Could it be justified to spend that on a player who is struggling to return better than the current starting centre-forward? Surely not.
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