Fiorentina ultras issue death threats to Dusan Vlahovic with Arsenal target nearing move

Fiorentina’s ultras have hung up banners carrying death threats for Dusan Vlahovic amid rumours the striker is in talks to leave the club. Vlahovic is one of the most in-demand players in Europe and is being pursued by Arsenal and Juventus as the January transfer window nears its end.

Arsenal have been strongly linked with Vlahovic this month, with Mikel Arteta desperate to sign a new striker before the window closes.

Vlahovic has scored 17 goals in 21 Serie A appearances this season to emerge as one of the hottest prospects on the market.

But the Gunners could be gazumped by Juventus, who are now in negotiations with Fiorentina according to Sky Sports.

La Viola want to maximise the transfer fee for the 21-year-old Serbia international who is under contract until June 2023.

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Fiorentina have a long-standing rivalry with Juventus and fans have been frustrated to lose Federico Bernardeschi and Federico Chiesa to the Italian giants in recent years.

It remains to be seen if Vlahovic will leave Fiorentina before the window closes on Monday, but it seems that after lots of speculation things are beginning to accelerate towards a departure.

Fiorentina’s sporting director, Daniele Prade, told Sportitalia: “It’s an important valuation, over €70m as a lump sum with no swap deals and no payment structures. The president [Rocco Commisso] has imposed it on us.

“All of our doors are open in this situation, because we need to understand what the players and his agents really want to do.

“We received some important offers for him. Offers that were very substantial but we never got any feedback from his agents.

“On our side, there has always been great transparency. I refer to what Joe Barone [Fiorentina’s chief executive] said, all our doors are open.

“We’re ready to sit down at a table and talk. We made various important offers for a contract extension, and we also have had a few offers to sell him in a strong way.

“I’m saying this because our club makes €75m a year and we can’t afford to lose a valuable asset for free.

“They were all valid and satisfactory offers, with payment methods that suited us. We couldn’t go ahead with the deal because there was never any contact with the player’s agents.”