It’s becoming clear that Barcelona are rapidly moving away from their identity of developing young players, and the situation surrounding Miralem Pjanic is the perfect example.
There are various reports which suggest Barca are going to send Arthur to Juventus in exchange for Pjanic, and it’s simply adding another veteran player to a squad of veterans that will need to be overhauled:
Juventus and Barcelona have agreed to a swap deal involving Arthur and Miralem Pjanic this summer, according to Italian newspaper @repubblica pic.twitter.com/762dKqsUMF
— B/R Football (@brfootball) June 22, 2020
Pjanic is now the wrong side of 30 so won’t have too long left at the top level, while Arthur is only 23 so could’ve been part of the midfield for years to come.
A report from Sport has also looked at some comments from Barca player Eusebio Sacristan, and it appears he’s not a fan of the move either.
He admits that it might make economic sense to sell Arthur so he’s not against him leaving, but he doesn’t support the idea of adding another ageing midfielder when they have Riqui Puig who is starting to emerge.
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He also points out that the midfield will now have Pjanic, Busquets, Vidal, de Jong and Rakitic in there, so it’s less likely that Puig will get a chance to play and develop.
It really does feel like Barcelona are mortgaging their future in order to give Lionel Messi a good team in his final good years, but with so many players aged 30 or over, this looks like a disaster waiting to happen.