Fiorentina striker, Dusan Vlahovic has made some demands that may see him spend more time than he would like in Fiorentina.
The Serbian hotshot’s demands coupled with Fiorentina’s valuation of the striker has put him in danger of being priced out of a January move to the Premier League.
Vlahovic reportedly wants to earn £200,000-a-week – after tax – wherever he ends up, and Fiorentina wants nothing less than £70 million for the striker who is still under contract at the club until 2023.
Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City have been heavily linked with a swoop for the 21-year-old ex-Partizan Belgrade forward.
Manchester City lost Ferran Torres to Barcelona recently and will be needing a replacement. However, City boss Pep Guardiola has come out on Thursday to cut the links to Vlahovic, claiming that the club is not replacing Torres in January.
City are still linked to Harry Kane and Erling Haaland, however, which could be the reason that Guardiola has come out with the statement.
Premier League clubs unwilling to match Fiorentina and Vlahovic demands
Vlahovic has reportedly rejected a new deal at Fiorentina as he seeks new challenges and a title-winning project.
Manchester City is the club with the strongest financial standing to pull off the deal for Vlahovic in January. But with Guardiola’s statement, the door of opportunity for other interested clubs is now wider.
Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea are all interested in the 21-year-old but are equally reluctant to alter their respective wage structures to accommodate Vlahovic’s demands.
Outside the Premier League, Juventus and Internazionale are the only Serie A clubs with a reported interest in the Serbian.
Juventus are also struggling with their current wage caps and may not be able to find the funds to take Vlahovic from Fiorentina in January. Meanwhile, Inter is only monitoring the situation to see what they may be able to get out of it if the other clubs fail to land the striker.
Manchester City make serious enquiries about Haaland
Elsewhere, Spanish outlet Sport has reported that City have gone ahead to make serious enquiries about bringing Erlina Haaland to the Etihad.
The Citizens have played without an out-and-out striker in two seasons. They tried to rectify it by going after Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane but failed, instead spending the £100 million budget set aside for Kane on Jack Grealish.
They will also be losing Ferran Torres, who has played in the striker role to great effect since signing from Valencia in 2020, to Barcelona in a couple of days.
It is now understood that City is not willing to lose out on a player as valuable as Haaland following their transfer failures.
The striker’s transfer demands as well as his club’s and agent’s demands make the deal a bit of a hassle for all clubs involved, including City. However, they’re willing to make it work.
City’s bid will also be helped by the fact that Real Madrid, the only other club to make a serious enquiry for Haaland so far, is more focused on signing Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe.