One of the hot rumours of this summer so far has involved Miralem Pjanic potentially joining Barcelona.
The Juventus midfielder does not seem to be in Maurizio Sarri’s long term plans, and accordingly the Italian side are shopping him around to see who is interested.
Barcelona have been linked the most consistently, and early on it was suggested that a swap deal for Arthur Melo might be in the offing.
This had many Barca fans upset – why would they want to give away a 23 year old midfielder with potentially plenty more ability to unlock, for a 30 year old in the same position?
But Spanish paper AS believe they have the answer. They claim to have seen a document from Barcelona’s scouting department which explains the advantages of signing veteran players – they need less time to adapt at a new club, they can perform immediately upon arrival. They also apparently complete a higher percentage of passes and synchronise with their teammates better.
This is all well and good, but the value one loses in trading away younger players is a major concern, and it’s no surprise fans were unhappy about the idea. The fact is that Arthur isn’t a raw 18 year old coming from Brazil – they’ve already invested two seasons in helping to settle, and this should be the season that they start to reap the rewards.
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“Playing without fans is sadder than dancing with your sister.” – Which Spanish football figure got got weird this week? Find out here.
