Chelsea and Juventus open talks over Pjanic-Jorginho swap deal

Juventus and Chelsea have begun negotiations about a possible summer swap deal involving Miralem Pjanic and Jorginho. The Juventus manager, Maurizio Sarri, would like to sign the Italy international, with whom he worked at Napoli and Chelsea, and is ready to sacrifice Pjanic to do so.

The Serie A side have also had discussions about the Bosnian joining Barcelona or Paris St-Germain. The 30-year-old Pjanic, who has been at Juve since 2016, could potentially have ended up at Barça in a swap involving Arthur but the Brazilian decided to stay in Catalonia. The PSG sporting director, Leonardo, is a huge admirer of Pjanic.

Arthur’s decision meant Juventus stepped up negotiations with Chelsea to see whether they would consider letting Jorginho go. The midfielder joined the west London club two years ago, in the same summer as Sarri, and after a difficult first season has become one of Chelsea’s best performers.

Paradoxically, the improvement in form came after Sarri left for Juventus and was replaced by Frank Lampard. The 28-year-old spent three seasons with Sarri at Napoli before following him to Chelsea.

Pjanic has a contract wuntil 2023 but has failed to convince Sarri he is a key member of the squad.