“The most difficult thing in football is to score a goal.” So said Pep Guardiola, supposedly, and there’s some truth in the sentiment. Certainly it’s at the apex where difficulty and entertainment meet; the moment a goal is scored is everything football is or ever will be.
It’s little wonder, then, that the players whose job is to put the ball in the back of the net are valued and revered. We expect certain characteristics of them – consciously or otherwise – and, though there are tactical systems that are built upon their absence, the game still loves a striker.
Fiorentina’s Dusan Vlahovic is a number 9 in the modern style. With his endless, selfless endeavour he is a centre forward who devours the work that would have occupied two strikers in generations gone by.
A product of a number of youth outfits in Belgrade before joining Partizan Belgrade and signing as a pro at the age of 15, Vlahovic played just 21 league matches for his home-town club before being snapped up by the Florence club.
His no-nonsense approach endears him to supporters and team-mates alike. Fiorentina aren’t winning too many plaudits under Cesare Prandelli but 21-year-old Vlahovic is a positive influence in the team. With Franck Ribery, now 37, a vital part of the Viola supply line, Vlahovic serves as Prandelli’s penalty area hitman.
With the ball
Despite being effective with his back to goal, Vlahovic wants the ball in front of him and the goal in front of that. Whether that’s six yards from goal or forty, that makes him a threat. He attacks crosses with intent and energy, most often across the near post, and his tenacity and physical strength give him an advantage as a constant aerial danger.
With two good feet, a cracking first touch (usually) and enough skill to be a crucial part of any one-touch Fiorentina inter-play around the opposition box, Vlahovic offers a varied and flexible focal point. Further back, he’s superb on the half-turn and quickly on the front foot. When breaking, he drops a shoulder well and knows when to offload a pass.
Vlahovic has scored seven Serie A goals this season including all three attempted penalty kicks, under-scoring a npxG of 7.7 – at 21, we can expect even more from a player whose reputation is already that of Fiorentina’s primary goal threat.
The biggest worry for Vlahovic is that he can appear isolated in a team that’s struggling by its own traditional standards. In his 1,415 league minutes this season he’s managed 47 shots, 13 of them on target – lower than one per game. He’s yet to register an assist, though his impact on the creation of goals has increased since last season by virtue of two goals scored from free kicks he’s won.
Vlahovic has a 2021/21 pass completion rate around the 70% mark and it remains relatively consistent across his full range of passing, but with fewer touches, dribbles and carries per 90 minutes than last season, one has to surmise that he is not being fed as well as he should. When he does have possession he rarely lets Prandelli down.
This is a player who will be served well by his attitude. No matter the situation, Vlahovic has an unwavering hunger for goal and his success rate will only improve with more experience and a more cohesive team behind him in years to come.
What he is not, though, is a striker who will create goals for himself out of nothing. Despite very proficient link-up play, his work away from goal is in service of the team. A large proportion of his goals will be poached and we’ll love him for it.
As a result, Vlahovic will do two specific things over the course of his career. First, he will score a lot of tap-ins. Second, he will turn being offside into an art form.
Without the ball
Vlahovic has become Prandelli’s first choice, playing nearly 75% of all Serie A minutes despite starting the season on the bench, and it’s easy to see why.
More a spearhead than a target, the Serbian striker is a worker, stalking around on the shoulders of the opposition defenders and sparking into life when presented with a chance to get involved. When Fiorentina have the ball he mixes up his game, showing for a pass to feet and then – almost like clockwork – rotating to offer a second option in behind.
His movement is intelligent both in the box and deeper, where he’ll drop and spin, often bending a run to give himself an open tilt at goal. Fiorentina’s players don’t use him as much as they should – he’s reliably available when they’re in the opposition half and generally positioned well.
With his team out of possession Vlahovic is a dedicated leader of the team’s pressing efforts, albeit in a measured fashion that maintains his own team’s shape as much as disrupting the opposition. There isn’t always a press to lead. The Viola have been beaten heavily this season and, at times, it looks as if their instinct even when behind is to avoid a repeat.
Nevertheless, Vlahovic has a deceptive turn of pace off the ball and will nick it off a dozing defender without needing to be asked twice. No cause is lost and no scoreline deters him. Graft, it seems, is both the means and the end. His willingness to drop in and work and then turn and run makes him particularly useful in transition.
Like all strikers of his size and style Vlahovic is willing to give away a foul, but he is old-fashioned in one crucial sense: he’s physical but he’s fair. Defenders get a few bumps off him but nothing out of the ordinary; he’s yet to be shown a yellow card in the 2020/21 season despite his bustling manner.
Prospects
At 21, Vlahovic is a known known. He has won the trust of Prandelli and Fiorentina, and even in these early days he looks like a player whose next move, whenever that may be, is most likely to a leading club within the division. AS Roma have already shown an interest.
He’s already a senior international, having been capped four times by Serbia this season, and he’s off the mark thanks to a goal and an assist in his country’s thrashing of Russia in the UEFA Nations League.
His short-term prospects will depend on the fortunes of Aleksandar Mitrovic – his natural competition – but also on the identity of Serbia’s next full-time head coach. With uncapped forwards of Filip Stevanovic’s quality now a part of the squad, Mitrovic and Vlahovic might benefit from some more dynamic support.
In truth, Vlahovic isn’t so much one for the future as a player who’s close to doing it now at a very high level, leading by example in a team that appears to sorely need it.
All that’s missing is some polish in front of goal and some luck. The near misses and the disallowed goals will count before long and then Vlahovic’s tally will make people all over Europe take notice.
Name: Dusan Vlahovic
Position: Striker
Club: ACF Fiorentina
Nationality: Serbian
Date of birth: 28/1/2026
Height: 190cm
Data correct at 6th February 2021. Sources include: Transfermarkt, FBref.com, Understat
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Chris Nee
@SphinxFtbl