Bosnia and Herzegovina international Miralem Pjanic, right, is a transfer target for Juventus and Chelsea. Srdjan Stevanovic / Getty Images
Bosnia and Herzegovina international Miralem Pjanic, right, is a transfer target for Juventus and Chelsea. Srdjan Stevanovic / Getty Images

Sport

Juventus lead Chelsea in race to sign Miralem Pjanic after triggering release clause — reports

Juventus have paved the way for Miralem Pjanic to join the Serie A champions after paying an estimated €38 million to trigger his release clause from Roma, reports said Sunday.

Agence France Presse

May 15, 2016

Juventus have paved the way for Miralem Pjanic to join the Serie A champions after paying an estimated €38 million (Dh157.8m) to trigger his release clause from Roma, reports said Sunday.

The Bosnia midfielder has been one of Roma's leading lights this season, hitting 10 league goals and two in the Uefa Champions League to help the capital club to a third-place finish on Saturday after a 3-1 win at AC Milan.

It means Roma, runners-up the past two seasons, finished two points behind second-placed Napoli and now need to pass the preliminary round of the Champions League to reach the competition's group stages.

Whether Pjanic is part of their summer play-off fixtures remains to be seen.

Sportmediaset report Juventus have already paid Roma the fee to trigger Pjanic's release following a phone call from Massimiliano Allegri to the player.

Related football news:

Antonio Conte's Chelsea arrival: Claudio Ranieri says 'tough man' Antonio Conte can revive Chelsea fortunes

Gonzalo Huguain breaks Serie A record: Record-setting Higuain fires Napoli into Champions League: 'I feel very proud'

Andy Mitten on Luis Suarez: Move over Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez etches his name into La Liga lore

Pjanic, notably, has honed his free kick-taking skills this season and Juventus have yet to find a true replacement for dead ball specialist Andre Pirlo since his move to New York City FC last year.

Roma have not denied Pjanic could leave, but in a statement relayed by Gazzetta dello Sport on Sunday the club said: "Roma denies the report relayed by Sportmediaset.it claiming the club has already received payment for Miralem Pjanic's release clause. This news is totally unfounded."

Reports in Italy claim Pjanic has been bidding his teammates farewell in recent days and that they, in return, have been jokingly calling him ‘Juventino’ — which equates as ‘little Juventus player’.

Should the move to Juve go through, it will be a blow to Chelsea and their incoming manager Antonio Conte, who has reportedly identified Pjanic as a priority transfer target this summer.

Fellow Premier League club Manchester United have also been credited with an interest in the midfielder, according to various reports in the British media.

Juventus capped their sterling Serie A season with a 5-0 rout of Sampdoria on Saturday to finish nine points ahead of Napoli, who saw striker Gonzalo Higuain score a hat-trick in a dramatic 4-0 win over relegated Frosinone to enter the history books.

With a stunning 72nd minute strike from the edge of the area, Higuain broke AC Milan forward Gunnar Nordahl’s 1950 record of 35 goals in a single, 20-team, three-points-for-a-win Serie A season.

Nordahl’s record stood for 66 years, but Higuain finished the season on 36 to claim a prestigious ‘Capocannoniere’ (top scorer) award.

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Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

If you go

The flights

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The stay

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