Does Dusan Vlahovic want to join Arsenal?

Vlahovic Will Europe’s Big Sides to Choose From in the Summer

This is a talent who can dominate European football for many years judged off his current trajectory, and as enticing as the project is at Arsenal with the focus on youth and increasingly attractive brand of football that can be elevated with a marquee centre-forward, waiting until the summer seems like the logical move to make for the 21-year-old.

Erling Haaland is likely to join one of Real Madrid or Manchester City, and whoever doesn’t land the Norwegian will pursue other targets. Namely, Vlahovic. Robert Lewandowski still has many years at the top left in him, but even Bayern Munich might sense an opportunity to plan for the future.

At this stage Arsenal do not have Champions League football, let alone are they regulars in it. If Vlahovic trusts himself to be the missing piece that lifts Arsenal into that competition, keeps them there and then has them challenging for honours, then as a club it’s a fantastic opportunity for him.

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But, wait a few months, help get Fiorentina into Europe and then potentially have the option of either a Real Madrid or Man City to choose from and you can entirely understand some hesitancy, or unwillingness to commit, from the big Serbian. And, it’s worth adding, he’ll get more money elsewhere.

Arsenal do have a pull. They absolutely have. Even those with a strong disliking for Arsenal – which appears to be almost everyone in England at present – can see what is being built in north London has the potential to be successful. As an age profile, Vlahovic fits that recruitment strategy perfectly, too.

It really is a guessing game in terms of what the player wants. He is yet to speak publicly on his future in January. Vlahovic will, you’d imagine, nonetheless be keen to see what else may crop up in a few short months.

From Arsenal’s perspective, if they can’t convince him that it’s the right club for him to develop – as painful as it may be he could even see the Gunners as a stepping stone onto somewhere else – then frenzied efforts and premium prices feel like wasted energy best spent focussing on other targets.

There are continents jam-packed with talented centre-forwards itching to don the red and white in the Premier League. It’s the dream for so many, just as it mightn’t be for Vlahovic.

If he has got his eyes on a prize he deems bigger, which is an unfortunate yet understood disposition, Arsenal’s gaze should be elsewhere too.