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Barcelona midfielder Miralem Pjanic has finally left the club to join Turkish side Besiktas on a season-long loan deal.
Despite the transfer deadline passing in Europe, the Turkish deadline was the 1st of September giving Barcelona an extra day to find a suitor for Miralem Pjanic. The 31-year-old Bosnian international has moved to Besiktas on a loan deal which will see the Turkish giants pay one-third of Pjanic’s wages.
Barcelona spent most of the summer transfer window trying to offload some of their fringe players, including the likes of Samuel Umtiti and Miralem Pjanic. The Catalan giants did manage to offload one of them with Umtiti still part of the first-team squad.
According to Barca Blaugranes, Miralem Pjanic was keen to stay with Barcelona and fight for his place in the starting XI. However, manager Ronald Koeman has made it quite clear that he is not in his plans for the new season. It left the 31-year-old no option but to leave Nou Camp.
Miralem Pjanic still has two years remaining on his Barcelona contract. The Catalan giants will be hoping the 31-year-old midfielder has a great outing in Turkey. That could attract more clubs into signing the Bosnian on a permanent basis next summer.
Miralem Pjanic arrived in Barcelona last summer in a deal worth €60 million. However, the 31-year-old midfielder failed to adapt to life in Spain. He failed to register a single goal or an assist last season.
Barcelona did manage to solve their wage issues to some extent
Barcelona did manage to balance their books in the summer transfer window by selling some of their fringe players and high-wage earners.
The Catalan giants have agreed to let Antoine Griezmann rejoin Atlético Madrid on loan with an option to make the move permanent next summer. On top of that, Barcelona generated some much-needed revenue by selling the likes of Emerson Royal and Ilaix Moriba to Tottenham Hotspur and RB Leipzig respectively.
Meanwhile, the likes of Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba have also helped Barcelona reduce their wage budget by agreeing to take a pay cut, which has helped the Catalan giants in registering new signings like Memphis Depay, Sergio Agüero and Eric Garcia.
Barcelona seem to be going in the right direction following a troubled summer which also saw the club lose Lionel Messi on a free transfer. As things stand, Barcelona have made a decent start to their new campaign, securing seven points from their opening three La Liga games.
Also Read: David James' column - Ranking the 5 greatest full-backs of all time
