Arthur 'beginning to soften stance on Juve and open to Pjanic exchange'

Multiple sources claim Arthur Melo is opening up to a Juventus transfer, in exchange for cash plus Miralem Pjanic to Barcelona, but a deadline looms.

The deal arguably would’ve been done weeks ago had Arthur not dug his heels in and refused to leave Camp Nou.

However, after Barcelona tried to explain to him that he wouldn’t get much playing time, as confirmed by the few games we’ve had since the lockdown ended, it appears as if they’ve been able to convince him.

According to Sky Sport Italia transfer expert Gianluca Di Marzio and Spanish newspaper Sport, Arthur is beginning to soften his stance on Juventus.

That is in part helped by a huge salary increase of €5m per year to come to Turin.

There is another issue, in that the two clubs are whittling down the differences in their transfer valuation of the two players.

Barcelona want €80m for Arthur, while they consider Pjanic to be worth ‘just’ €70m, so the Bianconeri would need to add in a cash sum to make up the gap.

There is a deadline, however, because both clubs want a deal to balance the books by the end of the fiscal year on June 30.