Barcelona and Juventus have reached an initial agreement for the transfer of Nelson Semedo, a report by Sport revealed on Sunday. The Italian club is said to be on the verge of paying 25 million euros (£22m/$26.6m) plus Miralem Pjanić and Mattias De Sciglio for the service of the full-back.
Despite establishing himself as an integral member of the Bianconeri setup, Pjanic has been ruled out of the long-term plans of the club considering that he is 30 years old. On the other hand, De Sciglio has been surplus to requirement ever since he arrived from AC Milan and has only been used sparingly by Maurizio Sarri.
Meanwhile, Nelson Semedo's purported move is one that has caused eyebrows to be raised considering how remarkable he has been in the Barcelona first team this season. According to Sport, the Catalan club's decision to sell the Portuguese full-back was motivated by the fact that funds are needed to complete the signing of Lautaro Martinez.
The Argentine international has been heavily linked with a move to Camp Nou. He has been tipped as the long-term successor to Luis Suarez. This season, the proficiency of the attacker has increased significantly, as the 22-year-old scoring 16 times in the Serie A alone. With a reported valuation of £100 million, Barcelona is looking to secure the 22 million included in Juve's swap deal for Semedo to fund the move for Martinez.
Pjanic has also been tipped to replace Arturo Vidal who is expected to leave the Catalans this summer. The club will also find a like-for-like replacement for Semedo in De Sciglio. Per the report by Sport, a deal is expected to be fully completed in the coming days.
