Official: Dušan è bianconero

With his contract deposited by Juventus to the league, Dušan Vlahović is officially a Juventus player. The terms of the transfer are €70 million up front, which will be paid in installments over three years, plus €10 million more in performance-related bonuses. €11.6 million will be going to Darko Ristic’s coffers for making sure his client would end up in Turin. This isn’t anything new. We’ve known for the last few months that Juve was his likeliest destination, and ever since that Romeo Agresti tweet on Monday, it’s been inevitable that this would happen.

My reaction is four-fold, all of which I summarized in the poll in the article I wrote when the news first dropped. I’m sad because he’s going to Juventus, and because this hurts our chances of qualifying for Europe. I’m happy because we got a fair return for him and don’t have to worry about him leaving for free, and I don’t have to deal with every single Fiorentina conversation revolving around this one player who, while good, is nowhere near the entire team.

When your best player leaves to join your most hated rival in the winter window, there’s plenty of blame to go around. I’ll start with Joe Barone and Daniele Pradè. Last fall, when you decided to fully bet on Dušan with Cesare Prandelli, why did you not immediately renew his contract then and there? In that scenario, we could’ve held out until this summer for €100 million, and the buying club almost certainly would not be Juventus.

A lot of blame also goes to Dušan. Federico Chiesa may have left the club in a worse way, but while with Fiorentina he never lied to the fans’ face about contract renewals and pretended like he really cared about Fiorentina. With Dušan, it’s clear this was all an act, and while he could let his agent take all the blame for him leaving, he was able to escape being jeered by the Fiesole while having already committed to being a Juventus player for months. I’m glad he’s gone and I don’t have much respect for him, as I do for any player who uses Fiorentina as a stepping stone for Juve. If it’s to a club like Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, I don’t mind. I’m proud to see Fiorentina alumni at the top clubs in Europe. But those who directly to Juve, especially when presented with equal offers elsewhere, are disrespectful.

The fewer words on this, the better. As I said, part of me is glad it's done and we can move on to see what this club is post-Dušan. To end, I’ll reiterate what I said on Monday. Rocco Commisso just handicapped our chances of qualifying to Europe by selling Dušan to Juventus. Arthur Cabral’s a good start, but it’s time to go buy several quality players to show raise those odds once again, and show to the fans that the sporting ambitions of the club are the priority. It would be a real shame to see this season sacrificed all because of the club’s mismanagement last fall.