The story of Dušan Vlahović and Juventus refuses to end. Until recently, the Serbian striker had no significant updates on his future — cultivating hopes, yes, but only on his own terms. He was not consumed by urgency. He had not ruled out options that had been presented to him, including calls from Turkey and the possibility of a move to a Premier League club outside the Champions League — but he was watching, waiting, and evaluating.
What has changed everything, according to Tuttosport, is the arrival of Giovanni Carnevali as the club’s new chief executive. Vlahović has viewed the transition from Comolli to Carnevali with genuine interest — and he is the first to refuse to lock the door on a return to the Continassa.
A New Interlocutor Changes the Atmosphere
One of the elements that had most disappointed Vlahović in his final meeting with the previous administration was the ultimatum-like nature of the conversation. Vlahović would have preferred to keep talking, to search for a credible compromise. With Comolli, he felt defeated before the discussion had even properly begun — a meeting that had been declared final, unilaterally, before it started. Now the interlocutor changes — though the financial gap from which both parties will restart does not.
What Carnevali Is Thinking
The new chief executive intends to wait a few more days before formally reopening the Vlahović dossier — but his response, when it comes, will not be slow in arriving. There is a genuine desire to understand, after so many words, whether there is real room to rebuild the relationship. Spalletti’s wish to have him at the pre-season training camp is clear. And there is also a practical concern: beginning the season with two strikers who are both untested quantities — even if one of them is a familiar face like Kolo Muani — carries risk. Against that backdrop, Vlahović’s renewal would satisfy almost everyone, and above all the manager.
The Two Paths Juventus Are Considering
Juventus are thinking rationally rather than emotionally, and they see two concrete routes forward. The first concerns the length of the contract: extending the deal by even one additional year beyond the previously discussed two-year term would allow the wage cost — currently considered excessive — to be spread more comfortably across the balance sheet. It would also offer Vlahović himself greater security, removing the fear of finding himself in the same uncertain position again in just twelve months’ time.
The second route involves finding a solution on the signing-on bonus — effectively buying back the player’s commitment by paying a sum directly to his entourage as part of a revised deal structure.
The Entourage Question
That brings us to the final and most delicate element of the picture. The striker’s wider entourage — the agents who engineered his move from Fiorentina to Juventus in 2022 in what was, at least from a financial standpoint, a masterpiece of a deal for their client — had been largely sidelined in recent negotiations, with Vlahović’s father Miloš conducting talks directly on his behalf. Clarifying that dynamic will be a necessary first step before any genuine progress can be made.
Once that is resolved, both sides can restart from their respective positions — each with the genuine intention of recovering a bond between Dušan and Juventus that was never merely superficial, but a real mission that was never fully completed. Whether that happy ending has simply been postponed will depend largely on the striker himself and on what he asks for. The €8 million per year he demanded was considered far too much by the previous administration. What the new wind blowing through the Continassa will bring to that same question remains to be seen — but for the first time in months, it is blowing in Vlahović’s direction.
