Arthur Melo for Miralem Pjanic: Who wins between Barcelona and Juventus?

The Arthur-Pjanic swap is complete, and at first sight, the Old Lady wins.

This is to say, as Forbes did recently, that Juventus are getting the younger, fresher player in Barcelona’s Arthur Melo, with greater potential still laying to his future. Under the tutelage of Maurizio Sarri, Arthur could become a Sarriball master of remarkable quality.

What can we take away from the shock move? A few things are and were always going to be, clear fairly quickly.

Arthur for Pjanic: Shortsighted, or simply a poor move?

None of the aforementioned is in anyway meant to suggest that Miralem Pjanic is a bum; on the contrary, he certainly has many fantastic qualities.

More from FC Barcelona

• Alexia Putellas reaches 400 games with Barcelona
• Barcelona put five past Real Betis
• Xavi backs struggling Robert Lewandowski
• Gavi youngest Barcelona player to reach 100 games
• Barcelona struggle but pull out win against Osasuna

His free-kick ability, creative vision and leadership are likely to take much of the burden off of Lionel Messi, should Pjanic be able to integrate into Barvvelona’s football club and culture. These may in fact, even be attributes that help Barcelona right away; he is not a manager however.

Neither was Arthur Melo; in fact, this seems to me to be the most pressing issue with Barcelona currently. It is also quite likely one of the reasons why there are fresh rumours of frustration by Lionel Messi.

But, to stay on the mark; while gaining Miralem Pjanic may take the pressure off of Lionel Messi in the short term, selling Arthur Melo was a horrendous long term decision.

Barcelona should wait for Xavi?

When Barcelona signed Arthur Melo from Brazil’s Gremio outfit, the Spanish press touted him as the next Xavi; with whispers continuing to mount around Xavi as a possible candidate to replace Quique Setien, why not allow Arthur to be managed and trained by Xavi himself?

As mentioned previously, under the proper tutelage of a manager like Maurizio Sarri, there is little question in regards to the quality we may see from Arthur in the coming years. What manager was giving Arthur Melo that at Barcelona? None since he came; this is because the managers at Barcelona have been both short-lived and ineffective at implementing their own take on the tiki-taka style.

This is simply a reflection of the statement above; the effect of a lack of managerial leadership at a club can be massive when the stakes are as high as they are at Barcelona.

Luckily for Barcelona, the club is full of young midfield players coming up from the academy and scouting department; still, does this mean that a serious long term error like moving Arthur Melo will hurt less?

No; it doesn’t, but Miralem Pjanic is of tremendous quality. The only question I have is in regards to where he will play alongside the list of midfield players. It doesn’t hurt that Arturo Vidal will be moving on, but Ivan Rakitic is likely moving towards the end of his time in Catalonia as well.

Juventus and Barcelona: Two clubs in different stages of development

Juventus and Barcelona may look the same; these transfers arguably make both sides better for what each team is looking for, it is true. But within that sentence itself lays another idea to keep in mind; the development of both clubs are vastly different from one another.

At Juventus, there is a team with massive hauls of talent; from Cristiano Ronaldo to Paulo Dybala, the list goes on to include even the venerable Gigi Buffon. But alongside the great talent, is a mastermind with a pack of cigarettes and a tireless spirit.

Barcelona need their own Maurizio Sarri; Xavi could very well be one of a different type of course. But still, that will make up for the errors of Barcelona recently. The list of managers, the transfers for Griezmann and Arturo Vidal, amongst others.