Jorginho to stay at Chelsea as Juventus, Barcelona agree Pjanić-Arthur swap — reports

It was always unlikely that Jorginho would end up at Juventus this summer due to their financial situation and Chelsea being uninterested in any swap deal on offer.

Now, there appears to be a final nail in the coffin of this saga, as reports claim that Juventus and Barcelona have reached an agreement over a cash-plus-player swap deal involving Miralem Pjanić and Arthur Melo.

Juventus’ primary target was Arthur Melo from the start, and while at one point it looked like the Old Lady wouldn’t be able to pull off a deal and might turn their attention towards Jorginho, reports from Fabrizio Romano (for the Guardian) and Romeo Agresti (for Goal Italia) claim that an agreement has been reached and Arthur is now willing to come to Turin.

Of course, it would be technically incorrect to call it a swap deal since they’re both separate transfers, with Arthur moving for €70m plus add-ons and Pjanić departing for €60m plus add-ons.

It appears that Juventus have got themselves quite a good deal by acquiring a fantastic young player in Arthur in the current market while also balancing their books by offloading Pjanić. Neither of those outcomes would have been possible if Juventus had made a protracted effort to sign the Chelsea regista instead.

So, in the end, Juventus acquire a gem of a player, Chelsea retain their vice-captain and Barcelona — well at least they still have Messi.

P.S.: If anyone’s interested in the financials of the deal and the reason that it is structured in this manner (the figures do seem quite weird, especially in the current economic climate), do check out Swiss Ramble’s excellent thread on Twitter.