Barcelona To Receive Challenge From Chelsea In Vying For Juventus Star Midfielder

It will not be an easy path for Barcelona's attempt to acquire Miralem Pjanić from Juventus. A bidding war emerges as Chelsea is said to make its own offer for the 30-year-old, who "has been heavily linked with the exit door at the Allianz Stadium."

According to Sam Meade of the Mirror, Pjanic has entertained the possibility of a shift to the Premier League as Chelsea appeared to have challenged the Blaugrana's offer to Juventus, which apparently has not gained any ground yet after Barca reportedly refused to accept Juve’s demand to have Arthur Melo and Ansu Fati in exchange of the Bosnian footballer.

"Miralem Pjanic has listened to an offer from Chelsea with his Juventus future still uncertain, according to reports in Italy," Meade wrote.

"Barcelona are thought to be keen on the midfielder with a potential swap deal featuring Arthur touted. But Chelsea are also keen on Pjanic and are looking to make up for lost time having been unable to sign anyone last summer due to a transfer ban."

The English club has started its quest to solidify its manpower at the midfield position as the club purportedly has reached out to Pjanic, who is said to already accept his looming exit from Turin, per Corriere Dello Sport.

With an impending competition to struggle with, Barcelona is urged to step up in its negotiation process, perhaps by adding other decent trade pieces to attract the Blues to consider and push through with the deal.

“Barca must accelerate the rate of negotiations for Pjanic, the club could do so by trying to include other players such as Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho to try and tempt Juventus to drop their demands of signing Ansu Fati and Arthur Melo who are extremely important player that the club must retain,” Aaditya Sibal of Everything Barca wrote.

Pjanic relatively has not made his mark so far this season, managing to score just three goals in 34 appearances across all competitions. Despite this, Barcelona remains eager to go after him, especially with Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal being reported to leave Camp Nou soon.