Miralem Pfanic signs a four-year contract with FC Barcelona. But before that, he was determined to wear the jersey of arch-rivals Real Madrid.
He is to be a new pillar at FC Barcelona: Miralem Pjanic. For him, the Catalans had Arthur move to Juventus Turin, while Barca is relying on his experience in central midfield.
The curious thing is that the newcomer, who was a shooting star at Olympique Lyon at the time, openly revealed himself to be a Real Madrid fan. “One day I want to play there,” the then 18-year-old talent told casinoweb.org: “Why not? I will work towards it. Everything is going well for me in Lyon, but someday I want to be at Real.”
Real fan about Zidane and Ronaldo
The fact that the 92-time Bosnian international now wants to become a top performer in the jersey of his biggest real rival could be seen as an irony of life. However, the Catalans are said to have had the game designer on their radar as a young player – back then under Pep Guardiola.
But the young Pjanic had only one Spanish club in his heart at the time: “I’ve been following Real since the days of Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo. I loved them both. Since then, Real have been my favourite club and they will always be.”
That Pjanic will actually end up in the Royal’s dress has become unrealistic. Barca will bind the 32-year-old for four years. At such a mature footballer’s age, that’s tantamount to an annuity contract. An exit clause of 400 million euros also makes it clear that the long-time Juve top performer cannot be poached for the time being.