“It was me that decided to leave,” Pjanic says Xavi wanted him to stay at Barca

Miralem Pjanic has revealed he was the one who wanted to leave Barcelona and not the club that wanted him out.

The midfielder moved to Barca in 2020 from Juventus in a deal that saw Arthur Melo move the other way.

It was a transfer that hasn’t worked from either side with Arthur also struggling on loan at Liverpool.

Pjanic fell out of favour under Ronald Koeman and spent last season on loan at Besiktas in Turkey.

He has returned to Spain this term, but he stayed shortly before leaving again to the UAE club, Sharjah.

Many people thought he was forced out of the club, but he denies that.

He says via Matchplug:

‘Xavi wanted me to stay, it was me that decided to leave.

‘I was there for the first games, the coach spoke with me a lot, but I wanted to play more. I would have liked to have done better at Barca.’