There’s no stopping Dusan Vlahovic. The Serbian scored an instinctive goal 32 seconds into his Champions League debut against Villarreal to leave onlookers scrabbling for fresh superlatives.
Juventus were ultimately held to a 1-1 draw, with the second leg taking place in Turin on Wednesday night, but the 22-year-old’s lightning-fast strike even left his opponents in awe.
“I saw him in some TikTok videos, but I had never watched him play before. Watching him live he was incredible, he’s a beast,” Villarreal forward Yeremy Pino told Gazzetta dello Sport.
Pino’s assessment is probably shared by anyone who has kept close tabs on Vlahovic over the last 18 months, and his previous suitors like Arsenal might live to regret not making a move sooner.
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Gianluigi Buffon called Vlahovic “the best young player in the world with Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé”, while Christian Vieri labelled him “the best natural striker in Europe with Haaland.”
Haaland’s name never takes long to come up in debates about where Vlahovic stands among Europe’s elite, and it’s easy to see why.
Comparisons are inevitable. Vlahovic is only six months older than the Norwegian, while both are tall and powerful, fast and prolific.
The Serb insisted after his goal at Villarreal that he doesn’t like comparisons, but he hasn’t been able to resist the temptation himself at times.
Vlahovic said last April that he watches videos of Haaland to “try to understand his finishing and how he moves”, adding that “with commitment, I can get there too”.
By September, he was saying that “Haaland is quicker, but for the rest we’re even”.
He isn’t a man to shy away from a big statement. A teenage Vlahovic once told Partizan team-mate Valeri Bojinov that he was “the Belgrade Zlatan Ibrahimovic”.
Bojinov went on to say: “I liked his arrogance. I thought he would become a strong player.”
There’s substance to the confidence, though. Vlahovic became the Belgrade club’s youngest-ever debutant aged 15 in February 2016, and their youngest scorer two months later.
His rise continued after joining Fiorentina in 2018. He first caught widespread attention in 2019-20 aged 19, when he sprinted from inside his own half and smashed in a last-minute equaliser against Inter Milan.
Vlahovic won the Serie A Best Young Player award the following year after scoring 21 league goals, and is already just one shy of matching that tally this term after catching fire in 2021.
He scored 33 league goals to become only the third player in the last 60 years to surpass the 30-mark in Serie A in a calendar year after Cristiano Ronaldo (33) and Luca Toni (31).
Only Robert Lewandowski, with 43, did better in Europe’s top-five leagues over that period.
But sceptics still questioned how Vlahovic would perform at the highest level, as his only European experience prior to his Juventus move was a substitute appearance in Partizan’s Europa League second qualifying round defeat to Zaglebie Lubin, of Poland, in the 2016-17 season.
It took Vlahovic half a minute to silence those doubters at El Madrigal, and the ease of his transition into Massimiliano Allegri’s side has been impressive.
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The 22-year-old has started well, scoring four goals in nine appearances, and appears to be the tonic to Juve’s major ailment this season – their bluntness in attack.
Vlahovic’s arrival has provided an extra threat but also spurred Alvaro Morata into improved form and given the team a boost that has helped them go 12 games unbeaten in all competitions.
He was rested for Saturday’s 3-1 win over Sampdoria ahead of Wednesday’s second leg, as he looks to fire the Old Lady into the quarter-finals for the first time in three years.
Vlahovic will need to follow up on his stunning Champions League debut to become widely recognised as a true rival to Haaland.
But his career path suggests he may well be remembered by his former suitors as the one that got away.
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