Opportunities and disadvantages of Pjanic’s unexpected departure from Barça

But although the Bosnian midfielder was condemned to ostracism by Ronald Koeman, Xavi Hernández had convinced him to stay in the squad. “Pjanic has decided to leave to get more minutes. He has been a great professional, I think he would have had his opportunities here, but everyone chooses their own path”, said the Barça coach yesterday. The reality, however, is that in the first four league games Pjanic has not played a single minute. Not even on the second day of the championship, when Xavi changed the system at Anoeta in the face of Sergio Busquets’ suspension due to suspension, and Frenkie de Jong went past the ex-Juventus player.

With his departure, the squad is left without a footballer whose “ability to understand the positional game well” was valued by the coaching staff. In other words, his ability to position himself and “help the circulation of the ball” in contexts in which Barça will be dominant, a dogma of the game model that Xavi shaped so well as a player and that he now wants to transfer to his team from the bench.

The benefits of your farewell

But, on the other hand, the salary savings that will mean getting rid of Pjanic – Barça will grant him a letter of freedom after the Bosnian has forgiven the two years of his remaining contractf – will allow the renewal of Gavi and Ronald Araujo to be resolved , who, as the ARA advanced, continues to play, in the eyes of the League, with his old contract, the one he had as a player of the Blaugrana subsidiary, which expires at the end of this season. In addition, renewing Gavi, who has agreed terms with the club, is an imperative given the interest in signing him from Premier League giants such as Liverpool and Germany’s Bayern Munich.

In addition, in an atypical season because it will be interrupted by the World Cup in Qatar between November and December, the departure of the Bosnian also means that Pablo Torre has more slots to show his head with the first team. In addition, Xavi does not rule out that, if necessary, even Sergi Roberto could return to midfield to play a few minutes.