Luciano Spalletti is not hiding his thoughts about Dusan Vlahovic (or a striker of his ilk)
Juventus’ manager has some clear opinions about what his team has been lacking since a certain Serbian striker has returned to the fold.
Juventus' Italian coach Luciano Spalletti speaks to Juventus' Serbian forward #09 Dusan Vlahovic during the UEFA Champions League - league phase day 4 football match between Juventus and Sporting CP at the Allianz stadium in Turin, on November 4, 2025. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images When Luciano Spalletti took to the microphone this past weekend for his pre-match press conference ahead of Juventus playing Lecce, he opened the door to Dusan Vlahovic returning to the starting lineup for the first time since the big Serbian striker picked up an adductor injury that kept him out for close to four months. With how Jonathan David has struggled for large swaths of the time Vlahovic was out injured and Loïs Openda has basically fallen off the map as the 2025-26 season has gone on, seeing Juve’s No.
9 return to the fold in a much larger role for last Saturday night’s trip to the Via del Mare — and beyond — was a notable thing for Spalletti to say. Same goes for what Spalletti has said about Vlahovic — and Juve’s striker situation as a whole — in recent weeks, too. Vlahovic, of course, scored for the second game running this past weekend, scoring all of 12 seconds in against Lecce in what proved to be the only goal of the night in Juventus’ 1-0 win over Lecce that sent the Bianconeri into third place.
It was one heck of a way to return to the starting lineup for the first time since late-November, and certainly a goal that could prove to be vital in Juventus’ final push to qualify for the Champions League. It was the kind of thing in which the manager had plenty of praise for his player. Here is what Spalletti said about Vlahovic after Juventus’ win over Lecce this past weekend: “We missed Vlahovic terribly because we don’t have someone else with his characteristics.
A winning team needs a physical, strong centre-forward. Even if he’s not that tall, he still needs to be able to hold off defenders, deal with the physical duel. “Jonathan David can score goals, but when it comes to the duel, the physical impact, that is where he struggles.
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