Juventus: Allegri cannot burn Dusan Vlahovic out too quickly
By Trent Nelson
While Dusan Vlahovic is amazing, he must be conserved as well
This is what Max Allegri is not getting 100% correct in his approach since acquiring the young 22-year-old from Fiorentina during the previous winter window. Dusan Vlahovic is amazing; he is everything that was said and likely more, and will be a remarkable number nine for many, many years to come.
Yet he is still a young player. Vlahovic has to contribute to the biggest moments ahead in this season of many campaigns. Surely, the likes of Alvaro Morata and Moise Kean can handle some of the less difficult clubs on the Serie A schedule instead of Vlahovic? Did they really need to use him against Spezia over the weekend as the Serb failed to register a single shot in a game for the first time this season?
There is no doubt, however, that the young man wants to play, and his boss wants him to also. He has started every game for the Bianconeri since his arrival and has scored three goals in Serie A during that time. But his schedule must be tempered so that this team has their talisman at his best when they need him most.
Allegri is trying to secure a place in the Champions League next season, and perhaps mount an unlikely Scudetto challenge. Juventus has shored up their stability and position in the league, but there is still more to be done.
That will have to include Juventus’s current most influential player, Dusan Vlahovic. Should he hurt himself in a relatively easy or less meaningful match, or should he simply burn out due to overuse, there will be calls for Allegri’s head for mismanaging his star at a crucial point in the season.
Dusan Vlahovic: Only Juventus’s great weapon if he plays, and plays effectively
That’s the real trick of it all. There is no questioning the influence that Dusan Vlahovic has on a football match, for whoever he is playing for. He has been crucial for Juventus since they purchased him, and they are certainly getting their value. He scores consistently and often, for club and country, and changes the Old Lady when he is on the pitch.
Yet Vlahovic cannot be solely relied upon either. Other names must make greater impacts. Paulo Dybala appears to have further injuries to work through before he can return and make as great an impact as possible, but Moise Kean must become a larger presence on this team as well.
The young Italian should be the perfect partner for the young Serb, yet Kean doesn’t seem able to put everything together. His time under Mauricio Pochettino at PSG in Ligue 1 appeared promising after his stint with Everton was anything but awesome. Returning to Serie A and Turin, many thought that Kean would be more like the player who left than the one we saw on Merseyside.
That projection might still come to fruition, but it’s yet to come to pass. While Federico Chiesa is lost for the season, alongside other names for varying lengths of time, Federico Bernardeschi has recently returned and must be worked back into the consistent rotation for the good of the club. While he had a rocky time under the previous two managers, Andrea Pirlo and Maurizio Sarri, Allegri knows best how to reinvigorate the player – should he still wish to do so that is.
A team that has such reliance upon one player can very easily be beaten if that player is taken away or made irrelevant. Allegri and Juventus must continue to diversify the rotation and chances across the team so that all the players will be invested and at their best and most productive when the time comes for them to shine brightest.
Dusan Vlahovic is the brightest star on this team right now. It is up to Juventus to work their way up towards his level, and the player doesn’t necessarily have to be on the pitch for every minute of every match for this to happen. He is a natural on the pitch and with the ball in front of the net, but he needs the rest of the team to rise to the occasion and offer him both aid when on the pitch, as well as respite in certain matches.