AC Milan were handed a shock home defeat by newly-promoted Cremonese on Saturday, with their attack looking toothless.
Milan manager Allegri, who had expressed interest in signing Vlahovic during the transfer window, will be feeling the pressure following this reversal and urgently needs to bolster their frontline.
Tammy Abraham and Luka Jovic left the Rossoneri this summer, leaving Allegri with just Santiago Gimenez as his only recognized centre-forward, which throws up Vlahovic’s name once more.
Milan veered away from luring Vlahovic, because of his steep salary demands, and came perilously close to landing Bayer Leverkusen striker Victor Boniface.
Yet Boniface’s transfer collapsed because of concerns following a medical and fitness test. The 24-year-old returned to the German giants and publicly called the situation with Milan “pagliacci ovunque”, which translates to “clowns everywhere”.
Vlahovic switching to the San Siro remains viable before the 1 September transfer deadline, although Juve head coach Igor Tudor should remain reluctant to lose the club’s top scorer over the past three seasons. Especially as the potential deal to sign Kolo Muani on a season-long deal with a conditional obligation to buy appears to be off.
Vlahovic remains prolific for Juve
The Serbia striker has been in red-hot form with plenty of goals during his brief appearances, both in pre-season games and against Parma for Juve’s Serie A opener. He started and finished a polished move to slot home just two minutes after arriving as a late substitute against Carlos Cuesta’s Parma.
Milan have not abandoned adding Vlahovic to their ranks, and have eyed up 20-year-old Sporting Lisbon forward Conrad Harder as a back-up plan.
Allegri, who is already feeling the heat after just one Serie A game, is not adverse to adding two strikers as soon as possible. Vlahovic is a proven scorer in the Italian top tier, with both Fiorentina and Juventus, and has a cluster of La Liga teams showing serious interest in acquiring him this summer.
As Vlahovic is Serie A’s highest-paid player, earning €12 million (US$14m) a season, the new Juventus hierarchy unsuccessfully tried to offload him this summer after he refused to sign a contract extension on a reduced wage.
Juventus wish to cash in on forward
Cash-strapped Juve want to cash in on their star striker and, despite greatly reducing his asking price, only attracted concrete bids from the Saudi Pro League and Turkish Super Lig. The 25-year-old rejected these opportunities, because he wishes to ply his trade in Europe.
Allegri is in favor of a potential swap deal involving right winger Alexis Saelemaekers and Vlahovic, with negotiations between Milan and Juventus having already kicked off.
Saelemaekers returned to Milan from a loan spell at AS Roma, but as he does not fit into Allegri’s tactical approach he has been added to their transfer list.
Although Juve showed interest in acquiring the versatile Belgium international, who can also be implemented as a full-back and wing-back, his €25m (US$29.2m) valuation was too rich for Juventus.