Juventus defender receiving plenty of interest from Barcelona?

Juventus and Barcelona are had at work negotiating a swap deal that will include Miralem Pjanic and could include Arthur Melo. La Blaugrana also appear to be interested in a fullback whom the Bianconeri are keen to offload.

Much of the criticisms against Mattia De Sciglio are exaggerated, since the fullback can be a useful player. However, the Juventus defender is indeed significantly better on the right than on the left, struggling at the latter position for the Bianconeri in 2019-2020.

Juve are keen to sell De Sciglio this summer, and they could use him as part of a deal to coax Arthur Melo from Barcelona. Arthur is clearly Juve’s top target among Barça’s players, as they are not interested in receiving over-the-hill veterans like Arturo Vidal or Ivan Rakitic for talented deep-lying playmaker Miralem Pjanic, who is still in the prime of his career at 30.

Pjanic interests Barcelona greatly, but they have been stingy with parting ways with Arthur, which is understandable. The 23-year-old can be a great defensive midfielder and scored three goals with three assists in La Liga last season.

De Sciglio could be used as part of a swap deal to convince Barcelona to part ways with Arthur. Per a report from Romeo Agresti, via Bianconeri Zone on Twitter, Barcelona like De Sciglio and seem to be much more interested in him than disgruntled midfielder Adrien Rabiot.

Agresti wrote for Goal.com that De Sciglio could become a more likely option at right back for Barcelona if the club sells out-of-favor starter Nelson Semedo. It’s honestly hard seeing De Sciglio being an upgrade over Semedo, but if Barça can get the cash and like the defensive upgrade De Sciglio brings, the deal could happen.

Juventus don’t need a defensive fullback like De Sciglio and already have two much better right backs in Juan Cuadrado and Danilo. So being able to use De Scilgio as makeweight for an Arthur deal would be ideal from the Bianconeri’s perspective.