Barcelona veteran offered three-year deal by UAE club, club fine with exit

The transfer market may have closed for the top five leagues, but it is still open in several leagues around the world. The league in United Arab Emirates, for example, is still open, and they are attempting to acquire one of the best central midfielders from the 2010s.

According to Fabrizio Romano, UAE side Sharjah FC have sent a three-year proposal to sign Miralem Pjanic on a permanent deal. Barcelona have no problems with the Bosnian leaving, and the final decision has been left up to the player himself.

Xavi had previously, on two occasions, commented on Pjanic’s future, saying that he is ‘fine’ with Pjanic staying as he had convinced him during pre-season and training.

“PJanic can help us a lot. He fits the way we play and he will compete with Busquets, Frenkie, and Kessie. It’s going to be difficult to get minutes for all four of them,” Xavi said ahead of the Sevilla clash.

There were reports during the last week of the window claiming that Al-Nassr were interested in Pjanic’s signature. The player, too, looked keen on the move, with his agents constantly going back and forth from the Barcelona offices.

However, Al-Nassr’s president trashed the rumours not too late after, claiming that their “team for next season was complete”.

Currently, he is among the only three players in the squad yet to play a single minutes in La Liga. Gerard Pique and Memphis Depay being the other two.

That is particularly surprising because fans bore witness to Pjanic play as Busquets’ backup during pre-season and expected him to start against Real Sociedad on matchday two following the captain’s red card vs Rayo Vallecano.

Barça have clearly given the green light to the veteran to make the final decision about his future. They will not receive any transfer fee from the deal, but still feel the move is in the best interest of all parties – Pjanic gets to play, Barcelona get to offload more wages from their bill.