Report: Chelsea boss Pochettino ‘not convinced’ in signing Dusan Vlahovic

The potential swap deal between Juventus and Chelsea involving Dusan Vlahovic and Romelu Lukaku has been the topic of many discussions over the last 48 or 72 hours. Juve want to try and bring in a player that their manager, Max Allegri, clearly wants while it would allow Chelsea to get rid of a player that they want absolutely no part of.

The thing is, the other half of the swap deal, Vlahovic, is the one who is very much valued higher than the player who would go the other way, meaning negotiations are not going to be as straightforward as maybe either clubs wishes they were.

There’s also another thing to consider: whether Chelsea actually want Vlahovic.

According to a report from The Guardian in the United Kingdom late Sunday, we continue to get hints that suggest Chelsea aren’t so hot on adding Vlahovic even if it means getting rid of one of their biggest want-away players in Lukaku. The reasoning behind all of this, The Guardian says, is the fact that new Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino is “not convinced about adding Vlahovic to his squad” and that he would rather the club add an attacking midfielder rather than a No. 9 in the form of the big Serbian.

On a YouTube live Sunday night, Goal Italia’s Romeo Agresti said that Pochettino’s preference as to whether Chelsea should go for Vlahovic will play a massive role in what happens.

This continued reporting is very much in line with the fact that when the Lukaku-Vlahovic swap deal rumors came about, Fabrizio Romano suggested that Chelsea being hesitant about their interest in Vlahovic goes back to June when they essentially rejected the idea of signing him this summer. And considering the fact that Chelsea has already signed a pair of strikers this summer — Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson — the simple fact of shelling out a lot of money (even if it is Chelsea and they spend like crazy) for another forward might be a little too much.

So, where does that leave Vlahovic?

As we know, he seems pretty steadfast in his desire to stay at Juventus even though he doesn’t exactly see eye to eye with Allegri. He very much showed that desire to remain in bianconero with his goal celebration against Real Madrid last week. But, considering that he is viewed as one of Juve’s big-money players who could help offset the financial reality of not playing in the Champions League this coming season.

So if Chelsea’s new manager isn’t convinced of signing Vlahovic and if the player himself doesn’t want to leave Juventus, what’s next? That’s the big question as things kinda-sorta start to resemble another potential swap deal involving Juventus and Lukaku four years ago when Paulo Dybala didn’t want to leave for Manchester United in 2019.

Juventus and Chelsea will continue to talk and see if they can reach a deal. We know that Juve want more money than the first offer that Chelsea through out there when they offered €20 million plus Lukaku. Can they get more than the rumored price tag that they want to accept a deal? Who knows if Chelsea would even want to push that. But it just feels like there’s so much more to come with this that we don’t really know what’s next.