Juventus won’t send Barcelona rising midfielder during discussions
Juventus are in hot pursuit of young Barcelona center midfielder Arthur Melo as part of a swap deal for Miralem Pjanic, but there’s one player they won’t use to sweeten the deal for La Blaugrana.
Negotiations between Juventus and FC Barcelona are ongoing, as both powerhouse clubs in European football would like to complete a swap deal.
Barça are keen on adding Miralem Pjanic as a technical midfielder and deep-lying playmaker who can help attackers like Antoine Griezmann, while Juve want a young, hungry midfielder in Arthur Melo who can boost the work rate of thier midfield trio.
However, it’s been difficult for both sides to come to some middle ground. Due to the financial situation in football as a result of COVID-19, teams can’t afford to spend money without caution. Therefore, we can expect to see more swap deals this summer.
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Juventus and Barcelona are trying to pull one off here, but Juve are finding it difficult to get their preferred target in Arthur.
Barcelona have offered Ivan Rakitic and former Juve star Arturo Vidal, but the Bianconeri are unsurprisingly uninterested in signing two over-the-hill veterans who are clearly worse than Pjanic.
According to a report from Diario Sport, via Football-Espana.net, Barcelona also have eyes on a young midfielder of Juve’s.
They reportedly want to sign Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur, who emerged as the Old Lady’s best man in the middle of the park last season.
Juventus are also understandably unwilling to transfer Bentancur to Barcelona. The 22-year-old led the team with six assists last season despite playing only 1,323 minutes.
Bentancur is the next big thing in Turin and could be a valuable player for years to come due to his defensive qualities, technical ability, and work rate.
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He has a ton of upside and is as valuable as Arthur, so that is a no-go.
Pjanic will almost certainly head to Barcelona, and Juventus are willing to add other, less valuable, players to the deal to make a Pjanic-Arthur swap work. Now it’s up to the notoriously difficult Barcelona to compromise, though they shouldn’t undervalue Arthur.