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Barcelona are close to signing Miralem Pjanic and Mattia de Sciglio. Juventus’ interest in Nelson Semedo would allow Barcelona to be involved in an unprecedented swap deal: two players and 25 million euros for the full-back.
Barcelona ought to be shut to pulling off every other masterstroke. ‘Sport’ says that they have curiously reached an agreement with Juve for Nelson Semedo. ‘The Old Lady’ would pay 25 million plus two footballers for the Portuguese defender. Those players will be Pjanic and De Sciglio.
Juventus wanted Semedo, Barca, Pjanic. But Barcelona believe that their full-back is worth more than the Juventus midfielder despite market analysis showing the contrary. It can only be sort of understood if they are thinking about Semedo being a key man for the future as Pjanic is older. But Pjanic is only three years older than Semedo.
It will not be straight player for player swap. The Catalan paper says that Juve will also offer 25 million euros and 27 year-old Mattia de Sciglio who is struggling to get into the team.
‘Sport’ says that the agreement is so close to being completed that Pjanic and De Sciglio’s Barca contracts have already been written. There just needs to be an agreement with Semedo. They are hoping he does not refuse to leave like Arthur.
With these two footballers and 25 million euros, Barcelona are hoping to be capable to pay section of Lautaro’s switch fee, their fundamental goal for this summer. In addition, it covers the absence of a full back with another.
The problem is that there are reasons to be suspicious because the figures do not add up. The experts say Miralem Pjanic is worth 45 million euros and even though he is 30, he still has three seasons left on his Juve contract. Nothing makes us think Juve are willing to give away a footballer like this.
And even less so for a player like Nelson Semedo, a footballer who, despite not having been poor for Barcelona, has been a long off what was expected of him. He is no longer the kid he was when he arrived at the Camp Nou: he is 26 and has a market value of 28 million euros.
De Sciglio, the other player in the deal, is 27 and has a market value of 10 million euros. It would make sense if it were De Sciglio and 25 million euros for Semedo, but not Pjanic.
However, the paper is clear that is the case. It would be a very surprising deal if it happened.
