The Bosnian’s name is a reasonably new one on the Blues’ alleged shopping list, but whether there is any substance in the rumour remains to be seen.
Clearly, if Chelsea signed the player, an opportunity for a line from a Smiths song with ‘Pjanic on the Streets of London’ an obvious choice? Maybe not!
101 Great Goals report: “On Thursday, Corriere dello Sport link Chelsea and Man City to Pjanic.
READ: Pep Guardiola - a transformative manager
“Pjanic, 28, is under contract at Juventus until 2021. In 44 games in all competitions for Juventus last season, he registered seven goals and 14 assists.
“Would Pjanic get into the Man City team? While that’s debatable, Pjanic would offer back-up to the likes of David Silva for Pep Guardiola.
“Perhaps the key issue regarding Chelsea and Man City is that the Premier League sides would offer Pjanic an improved pay packet compared to his current Juventus deal.”
Meanwhile, The Telegraph claim Jorginho’s predicted move to City is all-but done.
James Ducker writes: “Manchester City have finally agreed a deal with Napoli for Jorginho worth an initial £43.1 million after weeks of protracted negotiations with the Italian club.
“The Premier League champions are hopeful of completing the transfer in the coming days and it is thought the fee could rise up to £48.3million with add ons.
“Napoli had been holding out for around £50 million for the Brazil-born Italy midfielder but City were reluctant to go that high, despite Pep Guardiola’s eagerness to sign the 26-year-old.
“City switched their attention to Jorginho after backing out of a move for Brazil midfielder Fred, who has agreed to join Manchester United, and Guardiola is confident he will provide quality competition for Fernandinho in the defensive midfield role following the departure of Yaya Toure.”
Finally, City are reported to be interested in is Sporting Lisbon’s teenage striker Rafael Leao.
In one of those stories quoting another website and a newspaper, the MEN report: “It is claimed by Jornal de Noticias, cited by talkSPORT, that Leao, 19, is one of a number of players to have requested the termination of their contract with the Portuguese club.
“Sporting’s plans for next season are in disarray with a number of first-team players having terminated their deals following an attack by fans on players and staff at the club’s training ground in May.
“Leao could end up being available for free but it is claimed that City are willing to pay a Sporting a transfer fee to avoid any potential legal ramifications from the player terminating his own deal.
“Leao joined Sporting’s youth system in 2008 and has represented Portugal at Under-16, U17, U19, U20 and U21 levels.”
As we always reiterate, any official news of signings will appear on mancity.com first.
More of the same tomorrow…
