Former Juventus and Fiorentia striker Valeri Bojinov believes the Bianconeri should sign Nikola Milenković. The former Bulgarian International spoke with Juve news site IlBianconero and shared his thoughts on Serie A, his experiences in the league and the current situation in Ukraine:
What is happening is truly horrible. Seeing people die is the worst thing that can happen, we want love and not war. I hope it all ends as soon as possible and returns to normal. It is useless to say who is right and who is wrong, the only thing I ask is that there is love. Speaking of the decision (to ban Russia from footballing competitions), if FIFA and UEFA have made this choice they will have their reasons, but in my opinion excluding Russia is not good. Those who know my story know very well that the Russians have always helped us Bulgarians. We just have to try to get our life back.
Dusan Vlahovic recently made the switch from Fiorentina to Juventus and had a raucous reaction from the Curva Fiesole on his return to Florence. What did Bojinov think of the reaction?
In this last period, I have been criticized by Fiorentina fans for some statements I have made about Vlahovic and Milenkovic. They always want to get more, they ask for strong players, the new stadium, but how do you do these things if you don’t have liquidity ?.
Many say that Vlahovic could have stayed until the end of the season, score more and be sold at a higher price. Now that’s the way it is, but we don’t know what could have happened in a month or two. Fiorentina made a great deal to sell him in January.
If Vlahovic didn’t go to Juve he would have gone to another team anyway. Juve are Juve and anyone would want to go there. Football has now become business, there are no longer the players like Totti, Del Piero, Zanetti or Maldini.
I don’t want to be Vlahovic’s agent, but he is one who left his heart at Fiorentina and who has always given everything for the Viola shirt. He has always been a serious professional.
If I can give advice to Pavel Nedved and Juve, I would tell him to sign Milenkovic. He is a very strong player who can replace both Bonucci and Chiellini. He is very technical, he has a good understanding of the game, he is a mix between Bonucci and Chiellini and Juve must absolutely sign him.
Does Vlahovic remind you a little of Ibra?
His idol is Ibra. When he was 15 and came to train, he used to tell me: ‘I will become stronger than Ibra. I will become the Ibrahimovic of the Balkans‘. He is inspired by Zlatan and looks a lot like him. I’m sure he will become like him, if not stronger. He is already on the right path. He always told me that one day he would like to play for Juve and he succeeded. He will become one of the strongest players in the world. Next season, Juve will be an ultra-competitive team, both in the Champions League and in the league. They will try to sign Zaniolo and in my opinion he will go to Juve. They’re also waiting for Chiesa to return, and we are only talking about very young players. A club like Juventus is always in constant revolution, after 9 years in which you won everything and squeezed the players to the maximum it was right to revolutionize everything. It was no coincidence that they made it to the Champions League final twice, and people forget this.”
You who know both Buffon and Parma well, how much do you think the former Juventus player can still give to this club?
‘I hope he can still give a lot. Knowing Gigi and Parma, I can tell you that his career will end there. I hope he plays until he is 50, the other day I was reading that there is a Japanese player who played until he was 55, why can’t Gigi do it? Parma is the right place for him.’.
