Barcelona’s early business this summer has largely looked positive, but there are still reminders of some truly dreadful dealings over the past few years.
Their main issue was the bizarre insistence on trying to pack the team with as many veterans as possible and the deal to sign Miralem Pjanic is the perfect example.
He’s a perfectly good player but he was also over the age of 30 when he joined, and he was coming into a midfield that was already creaking through a lack of legs and energy.
The disaster was compounded by sending Artur Melo in the opposite direction, while it gets worse when you see that Pjanic only played 19 times in La Liga this year and he was rarely a starter.
He’s clearly not needed as Koeman found other options in the midfield so a summer exit looks likely, and it now appears that Juventus are emerging as a likely destination:
Miralem Pjanic wants to return to Juventus to be reunited with Max Allegri, according to Tuttosport ?? pic.twitter.com/ZnPktmlaUs
— Goal (@goal) June 1, 2021
It was reported that Juve paid €72m for Artur and Barca paid €60m for Pjanic so the deal was essentially €12m and the Bosnian midfielder to sign the Brazilian, so it will be interesting to see what kind of fee can be recouped.
There’s absolutely no chance that it’s going to be anywhere close to the €60m, but he’s not needed and any extra income will be welcomed so perhaps it’s the best thing to do.