The signing of the summer at Barcelona for Quique Setien
The tension at Barcelona continues to grow as their away fixture against RCD Mallorca comes closer and the Blaugrana might resume their league campaign without their main man Lionel Messi, as the Argentine forward felt acute pain in his legs post-training, however, there has been no confirmation from the club’s side regarding Messi’s availability status for the upcoming game.
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Despite the tension looming in the air of the dressing room at Barca, reports from Spain claim that Quique Setien has his first signing as Barcelona manager and that a world-class player would be making his way from Juventus into the dressing room at Camp Nou in the next few weeks.
The rumours in the past few weeks have heavily linked Miralem Pjanic moving to Barcelona in a possible swap deal including either Arthur Melo, Ivan Rakitici who was eager to join forces with Cristiano Ronaldo, Ousmane Dembele and former Juventus midfielder, Arturo Vidal.
Sources claim it is Arthur Melo of Barcelona
Arthur Melo would be the midfielder from Barcelona that would swap clubs with Miralem Pjanic this summer, however, is Bartomeu making the right decision by losing out his soon to be 24-year-old Brazilian midfielder who has shown the potential to possibly replace Andres Iniesta’s boots at the Camp Nou for a 30-year-old Miralem Pjanic?.
Although undoubtedly Miralem Pjanic is easily amongst the top ten midfielders in the world, the 30-year-old is a master at taking free kicks and can play either as a deep-lying midfielder or could even be deployed as an attacking midfielder, such is the versatility of Pjanic.
However, is the addition of Pjanic actually worth it by losing out Arthur Melo? The Brazilian midfielder may not have the best disciplinary record amongst the other squad members, however, on his best days, Arthur Melo can single handily take on teams. Another important aspect is that the Brazilian and Frenkie de Jong are the only experienced first-team quality midfielder at the club who are still young, although Riqui Puig and Carles Alena are young as well, the duo certainly lacks the experience that Arthur and De Jong have under their belt.
Quique Setien already has an aged midfielder with Sergio Busquets, Arturo Vidal, and Ivan Rakitic, it would make absolutely no sense for the Blaugrana to add another 30-year-old midfielder to their rooster at the cost of a 24-year-old. In the end, Josep Maria Bartomeu and his team according to the rumours prefer choosing a world-class midfielder who has entered the final years of his peak in his career over the young promising Brazilian midfielder.