Arthur has agreed to join Barcelona’s Juventus, setting up an agreement that will see Miralem Pjanic move in the opposite direction, Goal can confirm.
The two deals are separate, and this is not technically a swap deal, with Arthur set to turn to Juve for € 70 million ( £ 63 million/$79 million) and Pjanic set to step in the opposite direction for € 60 million ( £ 55 million/$67 million).
It represents a significant and rapid U-turn on the part of the player as it was previously stated he wanted to stay at Camp Nou despite being flattered by Juve’s interest.
With the clubs having reached terms already, the agreement is likely to be rushed through with Barca keen to complete the move by June 30 so they don’t finish the year in a negative financial position.
If the clubs fail to reach a final agreement by July 1, Setien ‘s side would expect the value of Pjanic to depreciate by € 10 m ( £ 9m/$11 m), thus raising Juve’s total package.
Maurizio Sarri, manager of the Italian side, had previously indicated a move could be near.
Speaking at a press conference, he said: “I don’t know what the situation is at Pjanic, but right now we depend entirely on him. In terms of his results, it seems to me that he is improving. Arthur is a player in Barcelona and if I started thinking about him it would seem terrible. As Quique Setien talked of Pjanic, who is my friend, I didn’t like it and I don’t want to think about it in an absolute way. The club has not spoken to me about this.”
Central midfielder Arthur joined Barcelona in 2018 making the switch on the eve of his 22nd birthday from Brazilian side Gremio.
During his first season during Spain he starred 44 times as Barca won the league crown but this season he’s been plagued by niggling injury problems and has only played 27 matches, scoring four goals.
