Juventus stud Pjanic admits he was close to joining PSG

Deservedly the object of desire of the continent's biggest clubs, Juventus playmaker Miralem Pjanic concedes that he was close to joining Paris Saint-Germain while with Roma.

Pjanic, who joined the five-time defending Scudetto champ in the summer from I Giallorossi, admits he neared a third French spell after receiving a concrete offer from PSG in 2014.

"It was really close (a PSG transfer) in the winter (of January 2014)," the Bosnia and Herzegovina international told France Football. "However, we were fighting for the title with Roma."

Those title ambitions were all for naught, as Roma finished second, 17 points adrift of his current squad.

"The contacts were concrete. I got a final call from Walter Sabatini (Roma's former director of football), though, and he said to me, 'Mire, even for €50 million, you are going nowhere!"

Sabatini, who left the club last week by mutual consent after serving as director of football, managed to keep hold of the precision-passing midfielder despite PSG's advances.

That decision would pay off, after the €11-million fee paid for Pjanic by Lyon in 2011 was dwarfed by the €32 million Juve paid in the summer. That €21-million profit and five years of arguably Roma's most influential player is the kind of move that highlighted Sabatini's prosperous tenure with the club, though Old Lady supporters will care little after the Pjanic's switch both strengthened Max Allegri's lot while significantly weakening the squad of its main title challengers.

Serie A's top assist man the last two seasons, Pjanic's form has translated well at Juventus, where the free-kick wizard has bagged two goals paired with two helpers in eight matches in all competitions.