Atletico Madrid may well be after a new forward this summer, with no clear holder of the central striking role currently. The team is built around Antoine Griezmann having freedom in attack, but his partner up front is a point of uncertainty.
Angel Correa is not a classic forward to partner alongside Griezmann, and thus is unlikely to make the role his own across a season. Meanwhile Alvaro Morata has struggled to hold down the position too. This season he has 15 goals, but has not shown the clinical touch that Diego Simeone desires.
🚨🚨🎙️| Italian agent Massimo Brambati on Dusan Vlahovic future:
“There are three teams that showed up. In my opinion, Juve will take these offers seriously. All of them have an important profile, because they’re Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid.” pic.twitter.com/zLhyQvmEoC
— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) May 19, 2023
Memphis Depay is perhaps the forward that has knitted together their attack best in the second half of the season, but neither has he shown a clinical edge. In addition, there are question marks about his ability to stay fit.
Thus it follows that Atletico would be looking for a number nine, and multiple sources have put them amongst Bayern Munich and Chelsea as contenders for Juventus forward Dusan Vlahovic.
🚨| Atlético Madrid, along with Chelsea and Bayern Munich, are interested in Dušan Vlahović. 🇷🇸
[🥇: @LaurensJulien, @espn] pic.twitter.com/1DaxBLtUR1
— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) May 22, 2023
However Bianconeri Director Francesco Calvo has claimed that Vlahovic is not for sale, and won’t be going anywhere.
Juventus director Calvo: “I can say that Dušan Vlahović is NOT for sale. We’re so happy of his committment, we trust him for the future”, told Dazn 🚨⚪️⚫️ #Juve
Chelsea have not submitted any bid for Vlahović as of now. pic.twitter.com/uOPa7jLAiN
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 22, 2023
The talented young Serbian has not hit expectations, and as one of their more valuable assets has been linked with a sale as Juve contemplate missing out on the Champions League. Even if Juventus were looking to sell, they would likely demand a fee similar to or above the one that Atletico paid for Morata. It seems unlikely Los Colchoneros would be willing to commit to such an outlay unless they had money from significant sales coming in.
