Miralem Pjanic is one of the best midfielders in the world right now. In his two seasons with Juventus, he had won the Serie A and Coppa Italia double and even played the Champions League final of 2017. Pjanic was linked with a move away from Juventus, with reports stating his desire to face a new challenge as the reason behind the story. Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester City were interested in acquiring his services. Manchester City was leading the race to get his signature but in a recent interview with ESPN, the Bosnian midfielder suggested that he wants to stay put at Juventus.
With the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus has an amazing chance to win the Champions League this season. Pjanic would want to stay for one more season at Turin to have another crack at the Champions League title surely.
This news would not be welcomed by Pep Guardiola who was looking to sign the midfielder. Manchester City want to get a replacement for Fernandinho who is now entering in his 34th year. Jorginho was their primary target, he snubbed them to join Chelsea and now it looks like the Premier League champions are set to miss out on Miralem Pjanic as well.
MIRALEM PJANIC – STATS
The midfielder has been impressive for The Old Lady since his arrival from Roma in 2016.
In the Italian League last season, Pjanic scored four goals and registered 8 assists. He had a passing accuracy of 90% and created 55 chances. He has played over 450 games in his career and has scored 66 goals.
BIG TROUBLE FOR THE CENTURIONS?
Pep Guardiola’s team will step into the new season with an aim to triumph on every front. Last season, they were dominant in the league but fell short in the Champions League. They have a good squad depth, alternative players at every position but the defensive midfield is still an area of concern for them.
After Yaya Toure’s departure, Manchester City is short in options in the central midfield. İlkay Gündoğan is more of an attacking midfielder whereas Pep likes to use Fabian Delph mostly as a left-back.
At this age, Fernandinho cannot start every game in the gruelling season of football. Pjanic would have been a direct replacement for the Brazilian. His vision to create chances and make short passes would have helped the team.
The fitness staff of Manchester City has to manage his game-time, just like Manchester United used Antonio Valencia in the previous season. Fabian Delph and Gündoğan will play many more minutes than they did in the last season if City ultimately fails to sign any central midfielder.
Only ten days are left in this transfer window and City fans will hope to see at least one more new player in their squad. The lack of business in this transfer window might vex Man City’s manager in the latter part of the season.
Stats Courtesy: Whoscored
