With Mauricio Pochettino officially starting his first day as head coach on Saturday, and another new signing being made in Nicolas Jackson, Chelsea can slowly start thinking about the start of the 2023-24 campaign.

The Blues continue to be linked with numerous names to join Jackson and Christopher Nkunku, with Juventus forward Dusan Vlahovic one of those being continually touted as a target for Pochettino.

According to Calcio Mercato, Chelsea have already held talks with the player's agent over a move for the Serbia international, who is also said to be wanted by Arsenal and Manchester United

Is Dusan Vlahovic a good option for Chelsea?

Vlahovic is clearly a man in demand if the rumours are to be believed, but the bare figures suggest any Premier League clubs showing an interest should perhaps think twice.

The 23-year-old looked superb in his final half-season with Fiorentina in 2021-22, recording 0.92 goals or assists every 90 minutes, as per FBref, leading to his £66.6m switch to Juventus.

However, that figure dropped to 0.67 in the second half of that season as he adapted to life at a new club, before falling further to 0.56 in his first full season at the Allianz Stadium.

This has largely been put down to head coach Massimiliano Allegri stifling Vlahovic, but that is not to say the former Partizan Belgrade player is devoid of blame.

As European football expert Siavoush Fallahi put it following Juve's loss to Milan in October, Vlahovic looked "really poor" in a Bianconeri side that played "without heart, soul and a game plan".

Even beyond the numbers, Chelsea have had numerous bad experiences when it comes to purchasing players from Serie A, from George Weah and Andriy Shevchenko to Ricardo Quaresma and Juan Cuadrado.

The most pertinent example is perhaps Hernan Crespo, who was signed for £16.8m from Inter Milan in 2003 – still a sizable fee at the time – as part of Roman Abramovich's major transformation.

However, having impressed in Serie A with Parma, Lazio and Inter, Crespo flopped during his two seasons at Stamford Bridge before being loaned to AC Milan.

The Argentinian, who like Vlahovic was able to link play as well as find the net, scored 20 goals in 49 Premier League appearances for Chelsea. While that is far from a disastrous return, Chelsea thought they were signing more than a 10-goal-a-season striker going by his Serie A stats, where he found the net 153 times.

Based on their past record of signing players from Serie A, plus Vlahovic's dwindling figures and Juve's supposed £70m valuation, Chelsea are surely better off looking elsewhere for another new attacker.