Miralem Pjanic

JamDav1982 said:

Bad deal for straight swap and still not enamoured with the finances.

Fuck knows if will be a good deal. Depends on how Pjanic performs and if Barca sell him to get some money back at some point.

Arthur in last few games entrenched for me everything thought he lacked and made it less of a shit deal but maybe being too harsh on him as being distracted.

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serghei said:

Yes, man, I agree he played bad. But to be honest, he started the season really well, and was putting in very good performances. Then he had those fitness issues (gonorrhea or whatever that groin issue was) and when he came back he was not the same. Is that enough to just sell a 23 years old player who is promising and who has shown he can put in top performances, even if he struggled with consistency? Not for me, but fair enough if others feel differently.

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te amo barca said:

Okay, Pjanic's range of passing is much greater than that of Arthur. Unlike the Brazilian, Pjanic can pass the ball further than 15 meters. He has the attacking instinct because he was an offensive midfielder earlier in his career where he showcased decent playmaking, goalscoring and dribbling abilities. Arthur doesn't. Pjanic simply has more tools in his locker to be a nice option for us.

From what I've seen, his role under Sarri is to play the Jorginho role, i.e. sit deep in midfield and orchestrate ball circulation with short passing. Arthur will be magnificent for them in that role. Also no shit that Pjanic's offensive stats have suffered in that role, DonAndres, any player's stats will do, he is literally the DM in that formation.

My only gripe with this transfer is that Pjanic is on the older side. He will start declining soon. This transfer only works if Pjanic replaces Vidal / Rakitic. Puig and Alena have to be played more.

With such backlash he will also be coming to the club with a point to prove, which should give him motivation. I say do this transfer.

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Toecrusher said:

Terrible financials aside, it depends if he is replacing Arthur or replacing Rakitic/Vidal.

If he is replacing Rakitic, Puig replaces Arthur and we get one more somehow to replace Vidal (Ndombele?), think in the overall scheme its ok.

Was hoping to see Frenkie more at DM though, and with this thats unlikely.

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DonAndres said:

Pjanic is definitely in a significant decline, Jorginho role or not. He even started the season well in that role but dropped off massively. Throughout his entire career and even in his very best years he has always been an extremely inconsistent player. Most Juve fans think Betancur is a better player now but when it comes to a consensus they almost all agree that their midfield has been by far the most shite part of their team for the past 2 years and Pjanic is key in that.

And the mitigating factor with Arthur is that in his entire time here (when he was in good form and then subsequently bad), he never got a consistent role and definitely not in the games that mattered in Europe. Him being shit ultimately amounts to no harm no foul because he isn't played anyway.

Whereas Pjanic being shit and declining will definitely affect us because he's one of those players with a brand name and "muh experience" so he's likely to get a ton of playing time, especially as Setien is proving himself to be spineless to bend to players with a brand name or big price tag despite him claiming otherwise when he first got here.

I expect Pjanic to get a significant amount of minutes whether he is good or bad, and him being in a decline makes that bode even worse for us. That's another player in the STARTING LINEUP on the wrong side of 30 who's going downhill. More key players that we will depend on who will only get worse and less motivated with time. Pjanic hurts us more than Arthur because he becomes a significant part of the team, and particularly the aspect of the team getting older and older.

If this is the club's idea of the first step in a midfield overhaul, we are making transfers that get us older and not younger. Another step in the wrong direction.

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Wolfe said:

Arthur won't get anywhere as a player without a manager who's also a life coach. It's kind of a waste of time.

Not that the swap makes sense from sporting perspective.

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te amo barca said:

won't be a step in the wrong direction if both Vidal and Raki are sold whereas Puig and Alena are given more gametime. We've also got Pedri who I have huge hopes for. But yeah, having another 30-year-old is problematic.

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