Dusan Vlahovic to Arsenal? How the Fiorentina hitman compares to Gunners strikers
There's a packed field in the pursuit of Dusan Vlahovic and for good reason. The Fiorentina hitman has been in absolutely sensational form for the Viola this season, rattling in 16 league goals and currently leads the way for the Capocannoniere, one goal clear of Lazio's Ciro Immobile. Whether Vlahovic has the chance to finish this race is another matter entirely.
The Serb has 18 months left to run on his current Fiorentina deal and is not prepared to extend his stay in Italy despite their best efforts to tie their prized asset down to a new deal. As such, Fiorentina are preparing for the worst and that is the inevitable departure of their star man. They'd hope that would be in the summer so Vlahovic can see out the season and Fiorentina can prepare accordingly to secure a sufficient replacement. A number of interested parties would also hope their stance on the youngster is softened in the summer, but they may not even have the chance to make their move at the end of the season.
Reports on Tuesday suggested Arsenal are willing to spend big this month to secure Vlahovic's services. A 1-0 loss at Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup on Sunday appears to have convinced the club they need to bring in a striker as soon as possible, particularly with Eddie Nketiah and Alexandre Lacazette out of contract in the summer - they are hoping to rectify the latter as soon as possible if reports are to be believed - and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang now out of favour at the Emirates, even before jetting off to Cameroon with Gabon for AFCON. The issue will be convincing the player to swap Italy for England, mainly due to Arsenal's lack of European competition this season - Vlahovic is supposedly in pursuit of Champions League football - but as the only side to have allegedly lodged a bid for the player so far this month, the Gunners are hoping they can lure the youngster to the Emirates.
An issue for Arsenal this season has proven to be a lack of natural goalscorer to lead the charge and capitalise upon the chances created by those in support of the striker. The Gunners rank fifth for key passes per Premier League game (10.8), but Aubameyang (4) and Lacazette (3) have scored just seven league goals between them. Indeed, Arsenal's top scorer is Emile Smith Rowe, and even then, three of his eight league goals have come off the bench.
Mikel Arteta is blessed with a plethora of quality young attackers in the form of Smith Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, yet the issue has proven to be finding the right striker to maximise the options at his disposal. Aubameyang's four goals came in a six-game burst across September and October, while one of Lacazette's three goals came in a 5-0 win at Norwich, a game in which the Frenchman added the fourth with six minutes to go.
That being said, Lacazette at least offers some decent link up play, which benefits those in support. He may not have been the most prolific goalscorer on the back of his 2017 arrival, but a return of 1.2 key passes per 90 since the start of last season and a willingness to drop deep affords the wingers additional space to capitalise upon. For Aubameyang, if he is not scoring, then he offers little in the final third and can prove more a hindrance than a help.
Vlahovic, though, offers decent link up play, but perhaps most importantly; some much-needed prolificacy. A return of 0.7 key passes per 90 since the start of 2020/21 may be lower than Lacazette and Aubameyang (0.8), yet Arsenal would be signing him to finish chances, not create them. Interestingly, Lacazette (27.1%) boasts the better conversion rate than Vlahovic (23.9%) and Aubameyang (15.2%) since the start of last season, however you only have to look at the Serb's goal return to appreciate how effective he is in the opposition box. 37 league goals is more than the two Arsenal strikers combined (30).
Of course, there is an argument to be made that Vlahovic's goal return has been beefed up in that he is on penalty duty for Fiorentina, and indeed that is true. Only Franck Kessie (13) has scored more penalties than the Viola star (11) since the start of last season, but even so; a total of 21 goals scored from open play over that same period isn't to be scoffed at when you consider Fiorentina haved averaged fewer key passes per game (8.0) than Arsenal (9.4) since the start of 2020/21. Evidently, he has a knack being lethal in the opposition box.
Between them, Lacazette and Aubameyang have scored 23 clear-cut goalscoring opportunities in the Premier League since the start of last season, while the former (51.9%) boasts the better clear-cut conversion rate than the latter (40.9%). Vlahovic has scored more clear-cut goalscoring chances (27) than any other player in Italy's top tier over the same period, and has a 65.9% clear-cut conversion rate to boot. This season alone, that rises to 83.3% Create the chances for Vlahovic, and he'll tuck them away regularly.
And besides, even if 29.7% of Vlahovic's league goals have come from the penalty spot this season, is this such a bad thing? A player can only score the chances put in front of him and penalties are no different, but is a weakness of Arsenal, particularly this season. Since the start of last season, the Gunners have scored seven of 10 penalties they have been awarded, a decent return, but just one of four this season; only Chelsea (7) and West Ham (5) have been awarded more in the 2021/22 Premier League campaign.
By comparison, Vlahovic has scored all 11 penalties he has taken since the start of the 2020/21 Serie A season, and this composure when the pressure is on would prove a breath of fresh air for an Arsenal side that recently has fluffed their lines from 12 yards out. Links with moves for Alexander Isak, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jonathan David show that Arsenal are in the market for a new striker this month, and Vlahovic would perhaps be the stand out capture given his record in front of goal and ability to routinely bring others into play. It's key they reinforce the frontline, particularly with Nketiah set to depart, and as they scramble to ensure Lacazette doesn't leave for free in the summer.
Considering the Frenchman's good form in recent weeks combined with his decent link up play, Lacazette and Vlahovic could well forge a decent strike partnership that would add another dimension to the Arsenal attack. Lacazette drops deeper to receive the ball and create chances, while Vlahovic gets on the end of these opportunities to continue his accelerated rise to super stardom. Both would undoubtedly thrive alongside one another and Arsenal would be the beneficiaries.
Whether the deal gets done or not is another matter altogether, but it's a statement of intent by the Gunners, which will certainly appease the fans' craving for a big money striking addition to the side. Should Arsenal get a deal for Vlahovic over the line this month, however, then they would acquire a forward more than capable of firing Arsenal back to the Champions League and with a vibrant, young support system in the final third, they would have the personnel to score goals for fun in the second half of the campaign.
