Report: Juventus in talks with Chelsea over Pjanic-Jorginho swap deal

Chelsea and Juventus appear to be working on a blockbuster swap deal ahead of the next transfer window.

The clubs have opened talks over a player exchange involving Jorginho moving back to Italy to reunite with his former manager Maurizio Sarri at Juventus and Miralem Pjanic taking on a new challenge at Stamford Bridge, according to the Guardian’s Fabrizio Romano.

Juventus have reportedly made it known to other clubs that Pjanic is available, but Sarri may prefer to do business with his former team and reunite with the defensive midfielder for a third time after coaching Jorginho at Napoli and Chelsea.

After hitting a roadblock in reported talks with Barcelona over a swap deal for midfielder Arthur, Romano reports that Juve’s interest in Jorginho intensified and the Italian side is eager to find out if Chelsea is willing to part with the 28-year-old.

Jorginho arrived at Chelsea in 2018 and was a key member of Sarri’s team that beat Arsenal in the Europa League final. That was the Italian manager’s last match in charge of the Blues before moving to Juventus in the summer of 2019.

Last week, Juventus appeared to be close to sending Pjanic to Barcelona in a swap deal for Arthur until the Brazilian issued a statement expressing his desire to remain at Barcelona.

However, it was later reported that Barcelona were still pushing hard to sign Pjanic and were willing to offer Ivan Rakitic, Arturo Vidal, or Carles Alena in a deal for the Bosnian midfielder.

Paris Saint-Germain are apparently also interested in Pjanic – who joined Juve from Roma in 2016 – and the team’s sporting director, Leonardo, is an admirer of the 30-year-old, according to Romano.