Report: Juve want to get a Dusan Vlahovic extension done by the end of 2024

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Can Cristiano Giuntoli finally reign in the biggest salary currently going in Serie A?

Just as we heard in the weeks following the close of the transfer window 12 months ago, one of Cristiano Giuntoli's current goals is to take care of some contract extensions for some of the players that he wants to lock in for the long term. We've already seen Bremer sign a new deal, while the likes of Federico Gatti and others have been rumored to be in Giuntoli's sights when it comes to contract extensions.

One of those "others"? Well, that's Dusan Vlahovic.

But there's also some very understandable reasoning as to why Giuntoli wants Juve's No. 9 to put pen to paper on a new deal.

That is for the very well-known fact that Vlahovic entered the 2024-25 season as the highest-paid player in Serie A, with a stipulation in his contract the signed back in January 2022 seeing his salary rise each year. Ever since Giuntoli has been in charge of the sporting area at Juventus in the summer of 2023, having Vlahovic sign a new deal that would spread out his lofty salary has been the end game. It's something that, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport's Giovanni Abanese, the two sides will try and get done before the 2024 calendar year is over with, adding that Vlahovic very much intends to sign a new deal with Juventus.

And it's clearly something that Juventus want to see happen as soon as possible considering the fact that they've seen previous contract renewal issues linger on much of last season with one of Vlahovic's good buddies in Federico Chiesa.

Vlahovic's salary for the current season is a league-high €12 million net, up from €7 million a season ago when he was on the same salary as Adrien Rabiot and just behind pre-suspension Paul Pogba on €8 million. But the big jump comes at a time in which Giuntoli has done yeoman's work in cutting Juve's payroll over the course of the last 12 months. Juve have reportedly shed €75 million with the departures of Rabiot, Chiesa, Wojciech Szczesny, Alex Sandro and Moise Kean, while Pogba still being on a minimum salary figure because of his doping suspension has also saved the club millions.

When it comes to Vlahovic, he is currently signed through 2026, so a new deal will likely see him signed through 2027 or 2028 to help spread his salary out. The sticking point in all of this is just how much it will take on either side to get a contract extension done and a new salary agreed upon. There are rumors floating around — albeit from very unreliable Italian sources — that if Juve can't agree to a new deal with Vlahovic by January that a summer sale will seemingly be inevitable.

But considering Albanese saying that it is very much Vlahovic's intention to renew, then a deal will likely be done no matter how difficult it might end up being. This is just another thing that Giuntoli is having to clean up from the previous management's laundry list of messes. There's been a lot of them already, and bringing Vlahovic's salary back down to earth a little bit during a much different economic climate at Juventus is one of the biggest tasks still left on the table.