Barcelona Transfer News: Target Miralem Pjanic Won't Comment on Juventus Rumours

Barcelona target Miralem Pjanic remained tight-lipped when asked whether he would be at Juventus this season to play alongside Cristiano Ronaldo in his maiden Serie A campaign.

Sky Sports Italia reporters (h/t Football Italia) spoke to Pjanic, who described Ronaldo as "a huge coup, a great player." However, when asked if he would remain in Turin, he replied "have a good evening" before departing.

Barca are mentioned as one of the parties interested in the Bosnia and Herzegovina international this summer, having bid farewell to Andres Iniesta and Paulinho in recent weeks. 

Tuttosport (h/t Joe Short of the Daily Express) reported the Bianconeri have told interested party Manchester City they'll need to pay €70 million (£62 million) if they want to sign Pjanic, a fee that's likely outside Barca's spending at present.

And the Blaugrana have another Premier League contender to deal with, per Italian journalist Angelo Mangiante:

The Citizens are still sore from missing out on the signature of playmaker Jorginho, who followed former Napoli mentor Maurizio Sarri to Chelsea after it looked like he was en route to the Etihad Stadium.

It seems Pep Guardiola is still keen to secure someone accustomed to the role of deep-lying string-puller, and Football Radars compared Pjanic's 2017-18 campaign with some of Europe's similarly styled stars:

It's difficult to imagine how rumoured suitors City would fit another playmaker of such quality into their XI, but then they also signed Riyad Mahrez this summer despite their glut of right-sided stars.

The €100 million (£88.9 million) arrival of Ronaldo has created a buzz around the JuventusStadium, but the inevitable by-product of such heavy expenditure is that the Bianconeriwill have to balance their books.

Pjanic, 28, could be deemed one of the resources valuable enough to recoup them a big portion of that fee in one swoop, although there are suggestions Ronaldo's shirt sales may be having the desired effect in recouping itself:

Barcelona have acquired midfielder Arthur from Brazilian outfit Gremio, but Pjanic is tested in European waters and has played top-level football in France and Italy for the past decade.

The Blaugrana likely need to sell before they can think about any further big outgoings this summer, though Pjanic's dodging of a question regarding his future may be taken as a good omen in their pursuit.