BIOGRAPHY
through from the halfway line before
thumping home an unstoppable left-
footed shot – he must have thought
that his claims could no longer be
ignored. Sadly, Montella – who was
soon to be sacked – and his successor
Iachini begged to differ, continuing
to keep him on a restraining lead.
The 2020-21 campaign did
not begin at all well for Vlahovic.
He only managed one goal in his first
ten league appearances that season
and even when Cesare Prandelli took
over as coach from Iachini in November
2020, he still failed to stir himself,
drawing a blank in his first four games
for the new boss.
Prandelli, though,
saw something
he liked in the
youngster and opted
to persevere with him.
As if by magic,
Vlahovic suddenly
exploded into life,
netting in three consecutive Serie A
games just beforeChristmas and hitting
even greater heights in the New Year. By
the end of the season, he had bagged
21 goals, a haul worthy of fourth place
in the national scoring charts.
“Prandelli’s arrival at Fiorentina
was the turning point of my career,”
declared Vlahovic in the Serbiandefeat at Internazionale – but was
mainly deployed as the youth team
leader of the line, so full of physical
presence and confidence that he cut
thefigureofan adult in the schoolyard.
Anabsolutely outstanding front-line
focal point for theViolayoungsters, he
was much to the fore in the conquest of
the 2018-19 Italian Youth Cup, scoring
three times in the 4-1 aggregate win
over Torino in the final.
Hispiece de resistancein those two
games was a majestic clipped Panenka
penalty in the second leg: top marks for
audacity, nerve and execution. Zlatan
Ibrahimovic, his favourite player, would
have simply loved to net that one.
Despite his brilliance for the youth
team, Vlahovic would have to wait quite
some time to pin down a regular first-
team spot. Fiorentina coaches such as
Vincenzo Montella and Giuseppe Iachini
believed he was too raw to perform at
thetoplevelandinthe2019-20Serie
A season, the youngster was equally
likely to start as kick his heels on the
bench. Six top-flight goals was not
a bad return for a novice striker, but
he had expected much, much more.
He had good reason to feel more
than a little hard done by. Indeed
in December 2019 after scoring a
wonderful stoppage-time equaliser
at home to Internazionale – racingpublication
MozzartSport.
“We sat down,
had a chat and
he explained
what he wanted from me. He told
me not to worry because I had the
opportunity to make things happen.
Without him, I wouldn’t have got
on. He had limitless faith in me.
I’ll always be grateful.”
Born in the Belgrade municipality
of Zemun, a pleasant neighbourhood
on the bank of the river Danube,FEB 22, 2018
Officially joins
Fiorentina, yet is
unable to play
untilJuly.SEP 25, 2018
Makes his senior
debut for Fiorentina
in a 2-1 defeat to
Internazionale
in Serie A.APR 12, 2019
Wins the Italian
Youth Cup by beating
Torino in the final,
scoring a brace in
the first leg of the
final and a penalty
in the second.AUG 18, 2019
Opens his
goalscoring
account for
Fiorentina, netting
abraceina3-1
win against Monza
in the Italian Cup.NOV 10, 2019
Scores for the first
time in Serie A,
bagging both goals
in a 5-2 defeat
away to Cagliari.“Prandelli’s arrival at Fiorentina
was the turning point of my
career...Without him, I
wouldn’t have got on”
Dusan VlahovicFutureJuventus stars...Federico Chiesa celebratesa Fiorentina goal with Vlahovic in February 2020