Mikel Arteta desperately wanted to sign £66m player, but Arsenal dodged a serious bullet

Dusan Vlahovic is joining Besiktas.

After a summer in which the Serbian striker couldn’t find a club despite leaving Juventus, Fabrizio Romano has confirmed he has settled for Turkish football on a three-year deal.

Still only 26 and essentially in his prime years as a player, the fact that he is making a move like this says it all.

Back in January 2022, Mikel Arteta and Edu Gaspar threw everything at trying to bring Vlahovic to London Colney.

Arsenal desperately needed a long-term focal point in attack following Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s exile, and the Fiorentina hitman was viewed by Arteta as the ideal physical, line-leading striker to transform his side.

But Vlahovic and his representatives famously gave Arsenal the cold shoulder, dragging out negotiations before sealing a £66million move to Juventus.

That now looks like a massive blessing in disguise.

What if Arsenal had signed Dusan Vlahovic in 2022?

So let’s imagine a world where Vlahovic had said yes to Arsenal in 2022. Well, that was the January window before Gabriel Jesus joined from Manchester City.

Jesus was paramount to how Arsenal made the jump from being on the outskirts of Champions League football to immediate title challengers.

Would we have seen that same impact from Vlahovic, who’s very much more in the Viktor Gyokeres mould in terms of style?

He probably scores more goals than the Brazilian, but would Vlahovic have helped facilitate a 15-non-penalty Premier League goal campaign for Gabriel Martinelli? Would he have led the press so industriously to help elevate Arsenal’s out-of-possession dominance?

This is all hypothetical, but it’s hard to envision that given where Vlahovic is now. His numbers at Juventus were decent but unspectacular, and in the biggest moments, he ultimately failed to deliver.

Arsenal may still have gone on to sign Kai Havertz and then Gyokeres, both of whom ultimately helped the Gunners end their 22-year wait for a league title, but we don’t know for sure.

Arteta’s talent ID has been overwhelmingly spectacular during Arsenal’s resurgence to the top, but his obsession with Vlahovic was one occasion where the manager may have actually been saved from his own ambitions.

Vlahovic got his move to Turin while Arsenal pivoted to build a title-winning side. Four years later, the contrast in fortunes couldn’t be starker.