Juventus midfield stalwart Miralem Pjanic reportedly has an agreement with Barcelona but the two European giants have yet to reach a deal of their own on a player exchange.
The 30-year-old has been a pivotal figure for the Turin giants since joining them in 2016, making 167 appearances for the club while winning the Serie A title every year since he arrived.
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Although he continues to play an important role for the Bianconeri this season, transfer speculation continues to cast doubt over his future with the reigning Serie A champions.
As reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport (subscription), and re-reported by Calciomercato, Pjanic is said to have reached an agreement of some sort with Barcelona on a switch to the Nou Camp, thus suggesting that he could be on the verge of ending his stint with Juve.
However, importantly, it’s added in the report that there is no agreement between the two clubs as of yet to green light a move, as they have to reach a deal on a player exchange operation to allow Pjanic to make the move.
Further, it’s suggested that Arthur is Juve’s first choice, but while he has expressed his desire to stay at Barcelona, the likes of Ivan Rakitic, Arturo Vidal and Nelson Semedo are specifically mentioned but are all complicated alternatives. They could reportedly have better luck if Carles Alena or Emerson were involved in talks.
From Barcelona’s perspective, sacrificing Arthur or one of their young players for Pjanic arguably makes little sense. The Bosnian international is now 30 years of age, while Arthur only turns 24 later this year and so they’d be losing a long-term solution and adding another stalwart to an already ageing midfield with Sergio Busquets, Rakitic and Vidal.
A straight swap for Arthur in particular would surely be bad business as far as the Catalan giants are concerned, while in contrast one involving Rakitic or Vidal would make more sense.
Nevertheless, it’s also unclear if money would also be needed in such exchanges to balance out valuations if a straight swap doesn’t work out, and so while Pjanic reaching a touted agreement is a potentially big step, there is still much to figure out between Barcelona and Juventus it seems.