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Juventus has made their first signing of the summer, and what a signing it is.
Miralem Pjanic is officially a Juventus player, ladies and gentlemen. Juve's already very good midfield — even without the long-term injury to Claudio Marchisio — is getting a whole lot better with one single move. Pjanic has put pen to paper on his big-money move to Juve, with a five-year contract worth a reported €4.5 million coming along with him in toe. The final total of the move will see Juventus pay the total of Pjanic's buyout clause, with €32 million of that going to Roma.
Here's the official word from Juventus' website:
Turin, 13 June 2016 - Juventus Football Club S.p.A. announces that the agreement with A.S. Roma S.p.A. for the definitive acquisition of the registration rights of the player Miralem Pjanic has been finalized. The consideration for the acquisition is € 32 million.
This acquisition will generate economic and financial effects starting from 2016/2017 sportive season.
Juventus and the player have signed a 5-year contract of employment.
UFFICIALE - @Miralem_Pjanic è bianconero! https://t.co/8Ht3Wdv7Mo pic.twitter.com/N2kbm4trj6
— JuventusFC (@juventusfc) June 13, 2016
It's beautiful, isn't it?
Juventus saw the opportunity to vastly improve its midfield, and then totally swooped in to get the job done in quick order. And a lot in the same kind of fashion when they got their big signing in the form of Paulo Dybala done and out of the way early and weeks before the transfer window technically opened, they've gone and done the same with Pjanic.
Let's just go ahead and see what Pjanic did in 33 Serie A appearances last season, okay?
10 goals, 12 assists, 85 percent pass completion, 1.4 tackles per game
Yep, that sounds pretty good. And this is the second time in as many summers that Juventus has signed a player who had double-digits in both goals and assists the season before. But, this time, it isn't a striker signing like was the case with Dybala a summer ago. Pjanic does his goal-scoring damage a variety of different ways — free kicks, runs forward into the 18-yard box, rockets from outside the box. Then there's his passing, which is about as pinpoint and impressive as you can get for a player who can anchor the center of the midfield.
Miralem Pjanic: Only Marek Hamsik (380) has made more key passes in the last 5 Serie A seasons than @Miralem_Pjanic (353) #juve
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) June 13, 2016
All of this is now Juventus' to take full advantage of as they look to win a sixth straight Serie A title and do major damage in the Champions League next season. What a time to be alive.