Dušan Vlahović (147 Viewers)

How many goals this season? All competitions.


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piotrr

Мodеrator
Sep 13, 2011
34,009
What became apparent later on, Vlahovic already had another club on his mind. In February 2016, during Partizan's winter pre-season held in Antalya, Turkey, he did an interview for the club's TV. Back then, he was asked "if you could choose a club, excluding Partizan, for which you would love to play, who would you choose?"; his answer was calm and clear - "Juventus".
Tried to find this vid but didn't manage.
 

bianconera_BG

Junior Member
Jul 18, 2017
151
Tried to find this vid but didn't manage.
Unfortunately, that video is gone I'm afraid. Back then, Partizan's videos were uploaded to the channel called "Danas conference center" which was owned by a guy who at that time worked as a PR for Partizan. A few years later he was kicked out of the club so he decided to delete most of the Partizan videos from his channel... lol

Official Partizan channel was then created in August 2019.
 

Mike-e-y

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2004
11,188
My friend who is a journalist made a great article on Dusan for the Serbian site that he works for, so I decided to translate it and post it here. Someone may find it as an interesting read.

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Born in the urban part of Belgrade where, even before you are born, you decide whether you belong to the red-whites or the black-whites, the story of Dusan Vlahovic was driven both by luck and self-determination in his early days.

Starting off in the football academy "Altina", based in his neighborhood of Zemun, Vlahovic immediatelly stood out from his fellow peers. In his debut game for "Altina" he scored a hat-trick. In his second game he scored five goals, and in third he scored four. The word quickly got out that there is "this kid from the football academy "Altina" who is basically toying with his opponents. He scores as many goals as he wants, however he wants". His reputation started to grow in the neighborhood and soon the small hall in which "Altina" played their games started to get full of crowd as they came to see this kid from their neighborhood.

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Dusan during his "Altina" days


Nebojsa Pejovic, the owner of "Altina", once said how the head coach of the team once came to him and said that "that long-haired kid is something that I've never seen before... Not only in terms of his talent, but also his stubbornes and determination to get better. If I tell him that something in his game is bad or needs improvement, he doesn't react like a sensitive kid usually would react. He goes to the pitch and works on it. He wants to improve. He can hardly wait for the next game because he always wants to see if his training has paid off in the next game. That kid is truly special."

As his performances started to gain more and more attention of the football minds around Belgrade, Vlahovic got invited to the OFK Belgrade, the third-in-stature club from Belgrade from the historical point of view. He spent three months there while again impressing the club coaches so much that they quickly recommended him to the Serbian giants and a club they held close ties with - Red Star Belgrade. Vlahovic went to Red Star and trained with their team for almost two months, and also played one game with them at the youth tournament in Bulgaria. Eventually, Red Star didn't offer him the contract as they deemed him - "not good enough... we have players from our academy who are far superior to him".

For Dusan, that meant that he was back to square one - he returned to "Altina". Later on, in one game he scored four goals. He didn't know though that in the stands one particular person was keeping an eye on him. It was Dusan Trbojevic, the legendary scout of Partizan Belgrade. A man responsible for discovering talents such as Adem Ljajic, Stevan Jovetic, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Nikola Milenkovic among many others. In the words of Dusan: "I scored four goals in that game and afterwards me and my dad went to a nearby restaurant for a lunch. I remember I was eating a burger and this man approached our table and asked my dad "is he your son?". My dad said "yes" and Mr. Trbojevic introduced himself and asked if I could come the next morning at Partizan's training ground. As Partizan was my favorite team, I jumped and answered even before my father had the chance to say anything. "yes, we will come! Thank you for inviting me, sir!". I had no idea though that the next morning the Partizan would offer me a youth contract without even seeing me play. Mr. Trbojevic told the people in the club that they must sign me, and they did. Just by his word. I owe a lot to him and I will never be able to express enough gratitude for what he has done for me".

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Childhood photo, wearing the jersey of Partizan

Fast forward a couple of months and Partizan's youth team is playing against Red Star - their eternal rival, and it's also Dusan's first derby. What did he do against a team that rejected him and said "he's not good enough"? He scored four goals. And after the game a now legendary conversation took place between the two coaches; Red Star's coach asked his colleague from Partizan "where did you find this kid?"; and Sladjan Scepovic replied "well, from you".

January 2016, Ivan Tomic is the head coach of Partizan's senior team. Talking about the winter reinforcements for the club he said that one of the biggest reinforcements will come from the club's youth team, a guy by the name of Dusan Vlahovic. Who was then still 15 years old. Some of the fans were sceptics; even though they knew about Dusan and knowing that he is a hot prospect for the future, some of them thought that maybe it is too early for him to join the senior team. But coach Tomic trusted him completely. After a few trainings with the first team, Tomic said that "this kid is unbeliveable. His skills, his work ethic, his discipline and desire to get better... I've never seen something like that. He will be worth 100 million euros one day". Dusan signed his first professional contract in February 2016, aged 16, and a man who stood by his side during the signing was the one who belived in him from the beginning - Dusan Trbojevic.

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Signing the first professional contract with Partizan

In his first press conference as the official player of Partizan, Trbojevic then said "I think that Dusan is the combination of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Dragan Mance (Partizan's legendary striker). He has the height and technique of Ibrahimovic, and his speed and determination remind me a lot of Mance. A lot of players have talent, but many of them don't succeed because they don't have the mentality to do so. But that's not the case with Dusan. He just turned 16 but his way of thinking is far above the boys of his age. While other kids prefer to go out with friends, partying or playing video games... Dusan prefers to stay on the training ground and improve his skills. I am certain that a big career awaits him".

Dusan featured occassionally during his time in Partizan mainly due to his age. At the start of April he scored his first goal for Partizan - and became the youngest goalscorer in club's history. He also became the youngest player to play for Partizan in the "Eternal" derby against arch rivals Red Star. He was pivotal in Partizan's route to winning the Serbian Cup that season - he first scored a goal in the semi-final, and then went on to score in the final as well.

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Winning the Serbian cup

By this time, he already started attracting attention from many European clubs, including Arsenal, Juventus and Anderlecht among others. It was rumored that already in the summer of 2017 Dusan was sold to Fiorentina - at the same time as his teammate Nikola Milenkovic. Eventually, the transfer became official in January of 2018 when Dusan turned 18 years old. He didn't play for Fiorentina due to administrative norms. Instead, he was formally introduced to the team in the summer of 2018.

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Fiorentina presentation of Vlahovic in July 2018

Despite scoring some goals during the Fiorentina's pre-season games, Stefano Pioli said that Vlahovic will be a backup to Giovanni Simeone - which seemed reasonable at the time; Vlahovic was only 18 and Simeone scored 14 league goals in the previous season for Fiorentina. But then the season began and Simeone couldn't find his form. He was struggling on the field, even going on a streak of 10 consecutive games without scoring a goal. Meanwhile, Vlahovic was getting very little space as Pioli obviously didn't have enough trust in him. He preferred putting wingers (Miralles, Chiesa, Pjaca) and even Gerson to play the role of a striker instead of giving the chance to Vlahovic. By the time January and the winter transfer period arrived, the club had the idea of sending Vlahovic on loan to a Serie B team but he rejected that option. Instead, he wanted to play for Fiorentina's youth team; to both gain more playing time and also he wanted to be closely monitored by the club coaches, which wouldn't be the case if he went to another club. He was assigned to Fiorentina Primavera and went on to score two goals in his first game. After a first few games in which he regularly scored goals, Emiliano Bigica, the head coach of Fiorentina Primavera, said "with Vlahovic, I feel like we went up in quality not by one level, but by two. He sets an example to the entire team when it comes to work on the pitch and also the training ground. He drives the entire team forward."
It was too late to go for the Scuddetto in the Primavera league, but Fiorentina went on to the finals of the Primavera Cup where they beaten Torino in the final - with Dusan scoring three goals.

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Winning the "Coppa Primavera" with Fiorentina's youth team

With Fiorentina barely escaping relegation to Serie B, Pioli was gone and Montella came back into the team after a successful previous spell at the club. Next season, with Montella at the helm, Dusan saw significant increase in playing time and the starting striking spot was oftenly switched between him and Patrick Cutrone even after Giuseppe Iachini took over from Montella in December due to poor results of the club. Vlahovic scored total of six league goals that season, and probably the most memorable one was against Inter when he took the ball in midfield and ran all the way to the opposing goal before striking the net with his devastating left foot. He also netted twice in the Coppa Italia that season.

Starting the 20/21 season, Vlahovic struggled to find his form - as did the entire team of Fiorentina. In November, Fiorentina brought back their legendary coach Cesare Prandelli and by many, that was another turning point in Dusan's career. As soon as he arrived and did a few training sessions with the team, Prandelli stated that he has the utmost trust in Vlahovic and his abilities - and Dusan repaid the faith on the pitch. He went on to score regularly for Fiorentina until the end of season, ending it with 21 league goals. In another hard-fought season for La Viola, it was largely in part due to Vlahovic's goals that the team once again managed to avoid the danger of going to Serie B. By the end of the season, Vlahovic became the new idol of the Curva Fiesole, the stand of Fiorentina's most passionate supporters. But also every other supporter of Fiorentina, so much that they gave him the nickname "Il principe di Firenze".

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"Il principe di Firenze"...

But as the Vlahovic's form went up, so did his conflicts with the club's board. In particular, president Rocco Commisso and sporting director Daniele Prade. Vlahovic, now the biggest star for the team from Florence, was hugely underpaid by the club. His annual salary was around 700,000 euros. In comparison, the disastrous signing Aleksandr Kokorin, who to this date still hasn't scored a single goal for Fiorentina, has the annual salary of 2,5 million euros.

By the time Commisso and Fiorentina wanted to offer him a new contract, Dusan was already setting his sight elsewhere. The famous line which he said during the summer of 2021 while Fiorentina was at their traditional pre-season training in Moena - "when they offer me, I will sign" when asked by one of the fans when will he renew the contract gave a glimpse of hope to Fiorentina fans. By October though, Commisso went out in public and said that Vlahovic has rejected every contract proposal that they have put in front of him. Even the one that would make him the "highest paid footballer in the history of Fiorentina". What became apparent later on, Vlahovic already had another club on his mind. In February 2016, during Partizan's winter pre-season held in Antalya, Turkey, he did an interview for the club's TV. Back then, he was asked "if you could choose a club, excluding Partizan, for which you would love to play, who would you choose?"; his answer was calm and clear - "Juventus".

Juventus, the club deeply hated in Florence, decided to go all-in for Vlahovic already in January of this year, after he had another brilliant first half of the season in which he scored 17 league goals and 3 more in the Coppa Italia and propelled Fiorentina to the fight for a spot in European competitions for the first time in many years. But for a top tier footballer, and especially for someone with his mentality, fighting for a spot in Europe is not enough. Competing is not enough. He wants to be the best. He wants to win. And to win with one of your favorite clubs is the opportunity that comes once in a life time. That's why the other offers, in particular the one from Arsenal, wasn't even an option in Dusan's mind. He wanted only Juventus. And Juventus it became. Over the night, his former supporters in Florence labelled him as a "traitor", a "gypsy hunchback", and some even went as far to write death threats against him.


Dusan on the other hand, thanked his former club during his official Juventus presentation. Just a few days later, Commisso went out and called Dusan and his agents "a group of liars". A rethoric that, if looked at objectively, serves more as an act of saving Commisso's good relations with Fiorentina's fans rather than being actually true. During his almost three-year ownership of Fioretina, Commisso promised to the fans a "fight for the titles, for Europe" and most notably "putting an end to a tradition of selling our best players to our worst enemy - Juventus". Fast forward, and Fiorentina hasn't won a single title, they barely escaped relegation - twice (and with a huge influence from Vlahovic himself), sold Chiesa to Juventus and their Primavera and even Women sector, which were winning the titles and competing at a high level during the Della Valle ownership of the club, have completely sank and disappeared from a competitive point of view. Those are the realities of Commisso's presidency so far.

On the other hand, both Dusan and his notorious agent, Darko Ristic, told Fiorentina board that they have no intention of renewing the contract. Fiorentina knew that almost two years in advance, giving them enough time to explore the options of cashing in on Dusan and his growing reputation in the world of football. Dusan could've been a liar as Commisso said, and he could've said that he will renew at the end of the season, and then try to get out - it would leave Fiorentina with probably less than half of money that they received in January from Juventus. But instead, they profited 75 million, and could potentionally profit even more from this "liar" whom they took from Partizan for less than 2 million euros.

But the jab of Commisso didn't even scratch Dusan; already in his first game he scored for Juventus and collected the love from all those couple of thousands of people who were in the stands that night - and millions of those who watched over the TV. And knowing his mentality, both Fiorentina and Commisso should brace themselves for his return to Florence in May - because he for sure won't forget the words that they threw at him when he left. Just like he didn't forget how Red Star rejected him when he played his first game against them.

In all aspects, Dusan is living his dream and his future dreams are tied together with Juventus - they want to win together, and on Sunday they got the perfect first step in doing just that. It's only the beginning...

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Superb article. Can tell instantly the mentality that Vlahovic has. Seems like the perfect Juventus player - what a start, can’t wait to see him fire us to the end of the season and a comfortable CL spot
 

Siamak

╭∩╮( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)╭∩╮
Aug 13, 2013
18,418
He seems to be separated from his girl friend.

L’impatto di Dusan Vlahovic con la maglia della Juventus è stato devastante, il serbo è andato subito in gol all’esordio nella partita contro l’Hellas Verona. Il club bianconero si è assicurato le prestazioni dell’attaccante più forte del campionato di Serie A ed è riuscito subito a fare la differenza. L’ex Fiorentina è concentrato in vista dei prossimi appuntamenti tra Coppa Italia, Champions League e campionato.

Il calciatore è salito alla ribalta anche per una questione di gossip. Negli ultimi mesi si è parlato di un possibile flirt tra Mariasole Pollio e l’attaccante della Juventus, in particolar modo è circolato sui social uno screen di un commento su un post. Mariasole aveva pubblicato una conversazione Whatsapp con l’emoticon del diamante. Vlahovic, per ringraziare, ha utilizzato lo stesso simbolo. Poi altri indizi sulla relazione, ma nessuna comunicazione ufficiale.

Sull’ultimo numero del settimanale Chi si parla proprio del rapporto tra Mariasole e Vlahovic. “Il bomber ha deciso di concentrarsi sul campionato e sulla sua nuova squadra. Per questo ha interrotto la relazione con l’influencer Mariasole Pollio”, si legge sul settimanale diretto da Alfonso Signorini.
In the latest issue of the weekly Chi we talk about the relationship between Mariasole and Vlahovic. “The striker has decided to focus on the league and his new team. This is why he broke off his relationship with the influencer Mariasole Pollio ", reads the weekly directed by Alfonso Signorini.
https://www.sportfair.it/foto/2022/...zata-per-concentrarsi-sulla-juventus/1158025/
https://www.calcioweb.eu/foto/vlaho...anzata-per-la-juventus-il-gossip/id/10518364/
 
OP
Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky

Tzu
Administrator
May 27, 2007
88,993
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #1,214
    He played for Altina lol. Horrible place. My friends live in that part of Zemun. No woder he did good, he wanted to escape that shithole.
     
    Last edited:

    Siamak

    ╭∩╮( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)╭∩╮
    Aug 13, 2013
    18,418
    Flashback #Vlahovic: #Fiorentina offered the Serbian to #RealMadrid in Jan, receiving a straight 'no' because the main objective of the Blancos remains #Mbappè.

    [Cadena SER via @AroundJuventus]
     

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