Vlahovic and Juventus: contract marathon heading for a split
The Serbian striker's contract runs out in June 2026; Real Madrid, Milan and Arsenal are preparing offers for the transfer window, and Juventus is desperate to extract at least a transfer fee.
Two weeks ago, after the Juventus match against Lazio in Rome, Dusan Vlahovic in the tunnel exchanged a brisk, almost rough handshake with club director Cristiano Giuntoli. Coach Igor Tudor was walking through the same tunnel and turned his head as if he hadn’t seen anything. It was 22:43, RAI cameras caught the scene for under five seconds, and within the next 24 hours it set off the story that the striker’s transfer had definitively been decided.
Vlahovic’s contract with Juventus expires in June 2026, according to TransferMarkt, and he has so far not accepted any extension offer. The club has spent several months trying to offer him a new contract on a reduced wage, since in 2025-26 he earns 12.5 million euros net, by far the highest salary in Italy.
Why is the contract stuck?
Vlahovic is insisting on a contract worth eight million euros per season, according to football-italia, while Juventus is prepared to offer six million, which is in line with the club’s new wage structure that, because of UEFA Financial Fair Play constraints, has to come down next season. The two-million-euro gap, on the face of it contradictory for one of the strongest sides in Italy, is in reality the consequence of serious cost control after two not particularly bright seasons and a UEFA fine from 2024.
On the other side, the offers on the table have not been lacking. Real Madrid, according to the same portal, is the latest side exploring the possibility of signing Vlahovic on a free transfer this summer, which would guarantee him twelve to thirteen million euros per season, but would also mean agreeing a rotation with Kylian Mbappe, who is already the main striker at the Bernabeu. Milan, who in 2025-26 changed the structure of their attack and brought in Sergej Milinkovic-Savic into the number-10 role, have prepared an offer of ten million euros plus bonuses, according to MilanReports.
Arsenal have been long-time Vlahovic admirers, since his Fiorentina days, but the English club in recent months has signalled it would re-enter the race only if Juventus agree to a one-year extension, which would avoid the free transfer and secure a fee. Atletico Madrid, Bayern and Fenerbahce are also there, with varying degrees of seriousness.
From Juventus, after the April meeting between Giuntoli and Vlahovic in Turin, reports said the atmosphere was “correct but without progress”, as carried by Football Italia. The director afterwards travelled to Madrid for a meeting with Carlo Ancelotti, who left Real in March and is waiting for a new role.
What next?
Club sources close to Juventus say the decision on Vlahovic’s fate is tied to qualification for the UEFA Champions League. If Igor Tudor’s side finishes fourth in the final round of Serie A, which leads into Champions League qualifying, the club will consider one last offer at seven million euros, as a compromise between the original six and Vlahovic’s eight. If not, he will most likely leave this summer on a free transfer or for a minimal fee.
Vlahovic’s final match in a Juventus shirt, if this is really his last season, will be on Sunday May 25, away to Venezia, according to the Serie A schedule. After that, the transfer window opens on June 1, which means concrete offers and signatures could be made public in the first week of June.
The Serbia national team captain, however this is resolved, remains the main card for head coach Stojkovic in the upcoming qualifying. The question is which club his new season will start at.
On the personal side, Vlahovic in 2025-26 played 28 Serie A matches and scored 14 goals, an average that for a 26-year-old striker is fair. The problem isn’t the numbers, it’s the perception of him as “the type of striker who doesn’t come into combination play”. In Igor Tudor’s Juventus system, which prefers strikers who drop into midfield to link play, Vlahovic has often looked isolated. Tudor said publicly in March that “Vlahovic has the characteristics to play for clubs where the attack is organised around him”, an open admission that Juventus is not quite that club.
On the transfer side, the most important name in the whole story is Robert Lewandowski. If the Polish striker leaves Barcelona after this season, Real Madrid could turn to Vlahovic as a free agent rather than pay a 60-million-euro fee for another player. Lewandowski, whose contract runs through the summer of 2026, is still weighing options, but Madrid reports mention a meeting with Florentino Perez that took place in March. Vlahovic’s path through the window, in other words, depends on other people’s decisions too.
