Miralem Pjanic has been touted as one of the most talented playmakers in Europe ever since making his bow as a professional footballer at the age of 16 playing for lowly Metz in Ligue 1 nearly a decade ago.
Since then he has been constantly linked with a move to one of the giants of European football, but has chosen to gradually develop and prepare himself for the eventuality of a big move by establishing himself as a key player at clubs that would fall into the tier below such as Lyon and AS Roma.
Now at 25 and with seemingly little to achieve in Italy, having gone through four trophy-less seasons with the capital club, who are on course for a fifth without silverware given they are in the midst of an inconsistent league campaign that currently has them fifth in the table with a present lack of direction. It might well be time for Pjanic to ponder over his next move as he prepares for the prime years of his playing career, somewhere where he'll be important for a club that regularly competes for trophies.
The main sides that seem to be competing for his signature are Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich, undoubtedly the top three clubs in the continent over the last half-decade. There are also continuous rumours linking him with a move to the Premier League in England, but where exactly is the right fit for him?
Going to Real Madrid seems to be the main option as it would allow Pjanic to play for his favourite childhood club and under his biggest idol as a player in Zinedine Zidane who was recently named manager of Los Blancos, but the competition for a place in their midfield would be top-heavy with players like Isco, Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic, Toni Kroos, and James Rodriguez all there contending for those central spots.
He is apparently being viewed as a long-term replacement for the slowly but surely ageing Modric, but when considering just how much of a workload the Croat has on the defensive each game due to a lack of work being put in off the ball from Real's most advanced players, it wouldn't be the most endearing situation to be in for Pjanic. He has always relied on having someone doing the dirty work next to him in order for him to shine albeit less so these days as he has improved defensively in recent years, but not to the level required to be a midfielder at a club such as Real.
Pjanic also wouldn't be a first choice free-kick taker, arguably his biggest strength, for as long as Cristiano Ronaldo is around and the lack of a consistent philosophy/playing style may be another reason for him to look to avoid going to the Bernabeu altogether.
Barcelona on the other hand seem to suit his strengths better given that the Catalans have always prided themselves on playing possession-based, expressive attacking football with an approach that has seen them rule the European scene for much of the last decade. If he were to transfer to the Camp Nou, Pjanic would likely suffer a similar fate to Ivan Rakitic and have to take a backseat to the deadly trio of MSN by playing with more defensive responsibilities on his shoulders for the sake of balance in the side which Rakitic has done so well since arriving from Sevilla.
Pjanic would still be able to join in on the attacking side when the opportunity presents itself as he'd try to balance between his deep-lying playmaking and box-to-box midfield roles by occupying the position once held by the legendary Xavi and whilst the competition for a starting role would certainly be strong, it might not quite be as fierce as it appears to be at Real Madrid which may be another reason to favour a move to the Catalans over the capital club.
Bayern Munich are planning for life beyond Pep Guardiola with Carlo Ancelotti set to take over next season and the Italian is reportedly viewing the midfield as a key area to invest in during the summer as he looks to put his stamp on his new side. Pjanic is deemed to be a target, as is Marco Verratti of PSG, and when considering that his main competition for a starting role would be an ageing Xabi Alonso and an injury-prone Thiago Alcantara, he may well have his best chances of playing regularly in Munich than anywhere else next season if he is to leave Roma. It remains to be seen however whether or not the German club are willing to activate his €45million release clause to lure him to the Allianz Arena.
Moves to England always seem to be some of the main rumours regarding his eventual transfer with him being the successor to Steven Gerrard at Liverpool and joining a potential Guardiola revolution at one of the Manchester clubs the most talked about possibilities. There there appears to be nothing concrete on whether Pjanic would even want to move to England or not next and whether or not his small, unimposing stature could even cope with the physical demands that the Premier League requires on a weekly basis. PSG also seems to be an option, but an unlikely one unless the French club end up losing Verratti for big bucks elsewhere.
Pjanic, who has nine goals and seven assists in 22 games and seems to be enjoying his best season in Italy, clearly has plenty of doors open for him if he were to choose to depart the Giallorossi next summer which may well be an inevitable situation given Roma's lack of success on the pitch, including a real possibility of not qualifying for next season's Champions League, and their adopted nature of being a selling club by necessity.
Pjanic could quite possibly be the next to go from the Stadio Olimpico for a large sum and he certainly won't be short on offers in the next summer transfer window if he continues performing at a quality level for Roma who will struggle to keep hold of the Bosnia & Herzegovina international if they fail to achieve success once again in the current campaign.
By Edin Halilovic
