Wednesday’s remarkable double announcement — Kolo Muani confirmed, Alajbegovic agreed — has immediately generated a new set of questions at the Continassa. With the attacking department now taking shape around those two arrivals, plus Yıldız, Conceição, and Boga, the fates of Jonathan David, Joshua Zirkzee, and the unresolved Vlahović situation must all now be addressed.
Jonathan David: The Most Pressing Exit Problem
With Kolo Muani confirmed as the senior centre-forward, David’s position in the squad is untenable. He earns €6 million per year on a contract running to 2030, carries the financial and sporting legacy of a difficult debut season, and is now surplus to requirements in a system that already has its number nine. Paris FC represent the most concrete interest to date, with the Canadian’s return to Ligue 1 looking the most realistic outcome — but the combination of his wage demands and a World Cup that failed to generate the wave of offers Juventus were hoping for has made the exit more complicated than anyone at the club would have wished.
The urgency is real. With Kolo Muani, Alajbegovic, Ekhator, Boga, Yıldız, and Conceição all now in the attacking picture, keeping David on the wage bill whilst finding meaningful minutes for him is an exercise in futility. Every day of delay costs Juventus financially and complicates the squad’s UEFA Settlement Agreement position.
Zirkzee: The Unexpected Third Option
Into this complex picture steps Joshua Zirkzee. Juventus have opened preliminary contacts with Manchester United to assess the feasibility of an operation for the Dutch forward, who is attracted by the prospect of returning to Serie A where he delivered the finest season of his career at Bologna. The club’s ambition is not to choose between Zirkzee and Kolo Muani but to land both — though the viability of that plan depends entirely on successfully moving on David and Openda first.
The preferred structure would be a loan with a conditional obligation to buy — a formula that suits both clubs’ needs and keeps the immediate financial impact manageable. United, who paid €42.5 million for Zirkzee in 2024 and have seen his value diminish after two difficult Premier League seasons, are not yet officially open to his departure — but the direction of travel is clear.
Vlahović: The Thread That Refuses to Break
And then, quietly but persistently, there is Vlahović. Part of the Juventus dressing room, it has emerged, had grown frustrated with the Serbian’s behaviour and leadership style during the previous season — excessively performative gestures, a sense of entitlement given his wage of €12 million per year, and a personality that was experienced by some teammates as more draining than elevating. That context did not make the renewal decision easier.
Now a free agent without a clear destination, Vlahović watches from the sidelines as the club he spent four and a half years at rebuilds without him. The Besiktas offer remains on the table. Barcelona have stepped back. The window in which his situation will resolve itself is narrowing — and for the first time in this long saga, the overwhelming impression is that the story is truly over.
Kolo Muani has his shirt. Alajbegovic is arriving. And the new Juventus, for all its unresolved complexity at the margins, is beginning to look very much like something worth watching.
