FC Barcelona's new signing Miralem Pjanic tests positive for COVID-19

FC Barcelona’s latest signing Miralem Pjanic has tested positive for coronavirus and will not start training with the club until Monday, 7 September. Pjanic arrived at Camp Nou in a player-plus-cash deal that saw Arthur Melo head to Juventus. The transfer saw a lot of heat with the majority of fans thinking that Barcelona got the worse of the deal but it was sanctioned by the Catalan club as they wished to be on the right side of UEFA’s FFP regulations.

Pjanic’s new team-mates have been on their way back for pre-season throughout August but the club recently revealed that the Bosnian has become the latest high-profile player to test positive for COVID-19, which delays his arrival for half a month.

The delay puts a risk on his debut for the Catalans and he is expected to miss the first round of La Liga fixtures which kickoff four days later. 

FC Barcelona released a statement regarding their latest signing’s issue that read,

“Miralem Pjanic has tested positive in the PCR test he underwent on Saturday, August 22, after having some discomfort. The player is in good health and is isolated at home. For this season, the player will not travel to Barcelona for 15 days to join the Barca discipline.”

When the 2019-20 season resumed after months are suspension, a total of five cases were reported, all of them were players who tested positive for the virus across Spain’s top two divisions. The good part about the news is that there have been no new cases since then but fears prevail as a second wave may emerge all over the country and thus, any potential risk should be treated with caution.

As per the latest figures recorded, 386,000 confirmed cases are present in Spain and close to 29,000 deaths have been linked to the virus in the country.

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