For a short while in Florence, the exciting young partnership between Federico Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic was the toast of the town. Afterwards, the winger made the switch to Turin during the summer of 2020, while the striker followed suit 18 months later.

But despite their reunion at Juventus in January 2022, the two friends and teammates are yet to share the pitch while donning the Bianconeri jersey. When the Serbian signed for the Old Lady last year, the Italian had suffered an ACL injury. And when the latter made his return to the pitch, Vlahovic has been away dealing with recurring groin pain.

Nevertheless, the two men will reignite their partnership sooner or later, and la Gazzetta dello Sport (via TuttoJuve) offers three hypothesis on how Max Allegri can field them together in the same lineup.

The first possibility is maintaining the status quo, by fielding Chiesa as a wingback in a 3-5-2 formation, with Angel Di Maria supporting Vlahovic upfront

The second is thrusting all three men in a 4-3-3 formation, with the Argentine and the Italian flanking the Serbian bomber.

Finally, Allegri could take a page from [former Fiorentina manager] Giuseppe Iachini’s book by thrusting Chiesa as a supporting striker right behind Vlahovic.

Juve FC say

Based on Allegri’s request, sporting director Federico Cherubini worked hard in the summer to deliver a squad suitable for the 4-3-3 module.

Understandably, the manager had to improvise due to injury crisis, but the least we can do is give the original plan a try now that the majority of our players are healthy once again.