Miralem Pjanic provides another problem for incoming Barça president

After coming through the 'adaption period,' Miralem Pjanic is still not hitting the heights expected. The former Juventus midfielder arrived at Barcelona to be an important player in big games but is passing by unnoticed. He's hardly played and his comments in various interviews make it clear that, in his opinion, it's unfair that Ronald Koeman uses him so infrequently.

Pjanic has played 25 of Barça's 35 games this season but only 1,183 minutes, which is 37 percent of Barça's game time. Beyond his good performance in Turin, against his former side Juve, the Bosnian has not had many standout performances and often appears disconnected from his teammates. At the start of the season, he struggled with the rhythm after recovering from coronavirus and it's true when he's played he's not been in top shape. Therefore, keeping in mind what he's said himself, it seems logical to think that both Pjanic and Barça could plan to part ways in the summer.

However, selling Pjanic would be a problem for the new Barça president financially. Remember that Barça paid 60 million euros for him last summer and his contract is four years long. That means that at the end of the season the Catalan club will only have amortised 15 million of the 60 million fee (25 percent). If Pjanic leaves the club, Barça will register a negative impact of 15 million on the balance sheet in the next three seasons due to the signing of the Bosnian. That impact would be, in part, mitigated by what could be brought in for the player this summer, but his age (30) and performances mean that Barça won't have much hope of making money with him.

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