Barcelona will be forced to sell veteran midfielder if Frenkie de Jong stays

Journalist Giacomo Iacobellis has confirmed that although there’s a mutual understanding between Miralem Pjanic and Xavi, the association might end prematurely due to financial reasons if Frenkie de Jong ends up staying at Barcelona.

It’s pretty much understood that Barcelona are working on offloading a midfielder this term and if de Jong stays, Pjanic will have to be sacrificed in the first place. This is exactly why Barcelona are not ruling out the proposal from Al-Nassr.

The news comes only a few weeks after Xavi publicly admitted that Pjanic will continue in Barcelona colours.

“Pjanic has convinced me and he will stay with us,” the manager had said ahead of Rayo Vallecano game two weeks ago.

The Bosnian was reportedly willing to slash his salary in order to help the team in new registrations. Despite his efforts, however, the midfielder is yet to play a single minute for the team this season.

All this has fueled the speculation that he might as well depart, with Al-Nassr seeming like the most plausible destination. The Saudi Arabian team already has the likes of Gonzalo Martinez, David Ospina and Luiz Gustavo within their rank and the Bosnian will only be an added bonus.

For now, the 32-year-old has multiple offers on the table. To begin with, his former team Olympique Lyon are credited with an interest too, but Barcelona are evaluating the Al-Nassr offer as the team from Saudi has deeper pockets than the Ligue 1 team.

Having joined Barcelona from Juventus in 2020, Pjanic spent the previous season on loan to Besiktas. The tenure wasn’t as fruitful as he would have hoped, leading to the suggestion that he might depart soon after moving back to Barcelona.

His performances in the pre-season club friendlies convinced Xavi of his ability, but as it seems, they might as well have to part ways in order to manage the finances after all.