Miralem Pjanic will wear a black-and-white jersey in the 2020-2021 season, but not the Juventus one. The midfielder officially completed a loan move to Besiktas yesterday. He had stated that he planned to stay in Barcelona and honor his multi-year contract just a day earlier.
Instead, his new club exploited the fact that the transfer market lasts longer in Turkey. They reached a more favorable agreement with Blaugrana once the competitors were no longer in the running. Besiktas disclosed that they would pay €2.75M of €8M salary. On top of Juventus, the Bosnian international was also linked to Napoli, Roma, and Fiorentina during the summer. But the Catalans had reportedly requested a higher sum to the Italian sides.
Pjanic did not find his footing in Spain, and Ronald Koeman would have relied more on other options this season. He accumulated 30 appearances in the previous campaign for a total of 1295 minutes. Barcelona purchased him in a €60M swap with Juventus involving Arthur.
Massimiliano Allegri was a major proponent of the reunion. However, the Bianconeri did not part ways with any of their midfielders. Aaron Ramsey was the designated one, but they could not find a taker. Had they signed Pjanic, they would have had to cut another regular from their Champions League list. Plus, they were not too keen on adding a significant salary to their wages-bill. In the end, they brought in only Manuel Locatelli in the role. The 31-year-old played for four years at Juventus, contributing to four Scudetti and two Coppa Italia.