Vlahovic happy to stay at Juventus, says new boss Spalletti
Dusan Vlahovic is out of contract at the end of the season, but new Juventus boss Luciano Spalletti claims the striker wants to stay put.
Luciano Spalletti is looking forward to working with Dusan Vlahovic, who he claimed is happy to stay at Juventus.
Spalletti will take charge of his second Juve game on Tuesday, as the Bianconeri host Sporting CP in the Champions League.
The former Napoli and Italy coach won his first match in charge on Saturday, with Juve beating Cremonese 2-1 in Serie A.
Vlahovic featured against Cremonese, though did not score. However, he is Juve's leading scorer across all competitions this season with five goals.
The Serbian was reportedly available for transfer in the summer, and is out of contract at the end of the campaign, but Spalletti suggested Vlahovic is perfectly happy in Turin.
"Dusan has a slight advantage because he's used to the pressure of wearing such an important shirt," Spalletti said.
"I spoke to him several times while we were training. He would be delighted to stay here. He's not worried about his contract, he only wants to play football."
Igor Tudor's tenure came to an end after an eight-game winless run, but Juve have now won their last two matches.
"They're very disciplined, we didn't need to bring any order," replied Spalletti when asked what changes he had implemented.
"The best rule is common sense. Rules have always been there at Juventus. I'm trying to get to know the team better and give them some directions.
"The players have often taught me. The important thing is to have desire and to use time well."
Juventus are unbeaten in their four meetings with Sporting (W2 D2), with their most recent clash seeing Juve eliminate the Portuguese side from the Europa League quarter-finals in 2022-23 (2-1 aggregate victory – won 1-0 at home, drew 1-1 away).
Spalletti added: "We're lucky to play in the Champions League, it's the pinnacle of football.
"To do well in this competition, we have to have our own idea of what it means to be a team, and we have to protect that idea with a lot of personality.
We have to have courage to do what we want to do. We can't have any excuses, this is football. We have to go out there and choose to do certain things."
