“More complete than Haaland”: Arteta could land a talent “more complete than Haaland” as Arsenal eye £65m “monster”
Arsenal are interested in a deal to bring Serie A Star Dusan Vlahovic to The Emirates in the January transfer window.
That’s according to a report by Italian publication Corriere dello Sport (via The Mirror), who claim that the Gunners are keeping a very close eye on the situation of the centre-forward ahead of launching a potential move for the 22-year-old in the winter market – with Juventus believed to be open to the sale of the Serbia international in order to help balance their books.
However, the report goes on to state that Mikel Arteta is not alone in his pursuit of the striker, with the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain also thought to be interested in the idea of a move for the forward in the January transfer window.
“More complete than Haaland”
Considering just how impressive Vlahovic has been in Italy over the past few years, coupled with Gabriel Jesus‘ recent injury having left Arteta extremely short of depth up top heading into the second half of the Premier League campaign, it is not difficult to understand why the 40-year-old would be interested in a move for the Juventus star in January.
Indeed, over his 36 Serie A appearances last season, the £78.5m-rated talent was in devastating attacking form, scoring 24 goals, registering three assists and creating five big chances for his teammates, in addition to taking an average of 3.3 shots – 1.5 of which hit the target – making 0.8 key passes and completing 0.9 dribbles per game.
These returns saw the 22-year-old average a simply astonishing Sofascore match rating of 7.23, not only ranking him as the Bianconeri’s third-best performer in the league but also as the 17th-best player in the top flight of Italian football as a whole last time out.
It has been a similar story over his 10 league fixtures in the current campaign, with the £213k-per-week hitman having already scored six goals and provided one assist, as well as taking an average of 3.1 shots – 1.2 of which have been on target – making 1.1 key passes and completing 0.5 dribbles per match.
These metrics have seen the player who Carlo Garganese dubbed a “monster” average a rather remarkable Sofascore match rating of 7.15, not only ranking him as Massimiliano Allegri’s joint seventh-best performer in the league but also as the joint 31st-best player in Serie A as a whole.
Furthermore, Nenad Bjekovic went as far as to suggest that Vlahovic is a more complete forward than Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, with the Serbian FA president stating in an interview with GOAL earlier this year:
“Vlahovic is better and more complete than Haaland. The Norwegian has devastating power, but Dusan is not inferior: there is also very little difference in their height. But the Juventus forward’s variety and style of play is better.”
As such, should Arteta manage to get a deal over the line for the €75m (£65m) Serb this winter, not only would the Spaniard look to have aptly replaced Jesus up top, but he could also have unearthed the Premier League’s next Haaland-esque talent – something that is sure to be an extremely exciting prospect for everyone involved with the title-chasers.
