Juventus open to selling Dusan Vlahovic, will Arsenal go for the striker?

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Juventus are open to letting go of their striker Dusan Vlahovic, and the Gunners are reportedly favourites to land him.

Vlahovic, 22, was purchased from Fiorentina for €70million in January this year, and started the current Serie A campaign in fine form, with six goals and an assist from his first 10 starts.

He missed Juventus' final four league games leading into the World Cup break due to an adductor injury, and failed to make much of an impact for Serbia in Qatar, scoring one goal from a combined 79 minutes on the field.

While he still has another three seasons on his contract, Juventus' behind-the-scenes turmoil could make the young talent available as the club sort out their financial issues.

According to Calciomercato, Vlahovic is no longer viewed as the "immovable cornerstone" he was before the season, mentioning the "corporate situation" as an important factor.

The report implies Vlahovic will only be sold if it is necessary to do so, and, more importantly, it may be before the end of this season. With Juventus' financial constraints, the Italian giants may well be entertaining bids for the Serbian in the upcoming January transfer window.

Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus suffered a knee injury in the World Cup during Brazil's group-stage match against Cameroon. He has undergone surgery and will be out of action at least for a couple of months. And the Gunners need to replace their star forward if they want to continue their run at the top of the Premier League table when the season restarts.

Will Arsenal try to sign Dusan Vlahovic?

Arsenal were favourites to sign Vlahovic earlier this year as well. The Gunners agreeing a fee with Fiorentina and were set to land the Serbian striker in North London. But it was Vlahovic who decided to snub Arsenal and opted to join Juventus instead. Although reports claim that Arsenal may well go back for him, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is a non-negotiator when it comes to player's attitude.

He has previously said that he prefers to sign players who don't need a lot of convincing to join Arsenal. And with Vlahovic's reluctance last time around, it looks a bit difficult that Arteta will go against his own word.

"We only want the best people and the best players at this club and when we are in a rush or different pressures, and the reasons are not the right ones to get a player on board, we decided not to do it," Arteta said after Vlahovic snubbed them last January.

Arsenal do need a striker badly though. The injury of Gabriel Jesus can have catastrophic ramifications given he was the focal point of various rosy things at Arsenal. Eddie Nketiah is the lone striker at this moment and the Gunners manager can't rely on the youngster for the remainder of the season. It has to be seen who Arsenal try to bring in when the window reopens, but Vlahovic is definitely an option. Juventus would also aim to recoup a significant amount of the 70 million euros that they paid to bring Vlahovic less than a year ago. But will Arsenal be willing to break the bank for a player who didn't want to come to the club less than a year ago? Seems highly unlikely, but never say never.

(with inputs from Omnisport)