Real Madrid set to hijack Barca bid for Miralem Pjanic

The Los Blancos are ready to table an offer for Juventus star Miralem Pjanic.

FC Barcelona have been increasingly linked with Miralem Pjanic, but it looks like Real Madrid are ready to play spoilsport in the deal. According to reports from Spain, Barca’s El Clasico rivals have entered the race to sign the midfielder.

Juventus have recently completed a deal worth 100 million euros with Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo. And it looks like Real Madrid are set to return the favour to the Italian champions.

Pjanic joined Juventus in 2016 after spending five seasons with AS Roma. The Italian champions value the midfielder at 80 million euros. Pjanic has been central to Juventus’ success in the domestic tournaments, and is one of the best creative midfielders at the moment.

There have also been reports of Lionel Messi being a huge admirer of Pjanic.

Manchester City were also in the race to sign Pjanic, according to various reports in Italy and England. However, Pep Guardiola rubbished the reports in his press  conference during City’s pre-season tour to United States.

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“Pjanic is a Juventus player & we are not interested in signing him. He’s a top player, but we are not interested. We have enough players who play in his position,” said Guardiola.

Real Madrid, meanwhile, have signed Vinicius Junior from Brazilian club Flamengo, and Alvaro Odriozola from Real Sociedad. While Real Madrid received a blow with the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, they are positive about Gareth Bale’s position at the club.