Barcelona staff ‘pleasantly surprised’ with midfielder’s tactical understanding

Miralem Pjanic’s case at Barcelona has been a peculiar one. The Bosnian came to the Catalan club from Juventus after a very successful career with the Bianconeri. However, the player has yet failed to impress at Barça.

Per Fernando Polo, Xavi believes that the player is still at the top of his game regarding technique and tactical soundness under pressure, and believes the player could be a good profile to have in the team.

However, their only concern remains the Bosnian physical fitness as the player is moving towards the end of his career and has lost his physical abilities, becoming slower and heavier than during his prime at Juventus.

His move to Barcelona was very surprising and suspicious as the two parties proceeded with a straight swap between the veteran and Barça midfielder Arthur Melo. The transfer involved no cash transfer between the clubs.

The move saw a lot of furious cules who protested the move as Arthur was a promising young talent, while Pjanic was a 30-year-old who had started deteriorating physically. The Bosnian eventually failed to impress at Camp Nou and failed to break into the first team.

After a failed first season in Blaugrana, the club decided to move Pjanic on loan to Besiktas in Turkey. The midfielder had an average season with the club and is now back training with Barcelona as Xavi feels the player can fill in as Sergio Busquets’ backup.

The coaching staff believes the player can be a good profile to have amidst the increase in youth at the centre of the field. It was seen by all that Pjanic still possess the same smooth technical abilities to recycle possession while being able to progress the ball.

There even seems to be no issues regarding the player’s financials as the midfielder has already been reported as ready to take a pay cut in order to play with the Catalan giants for this season.