Miralem Pjanic revealed his desire to re-join Juventus last transfer window and encouraged Paulo Dybala to renew his contract in Turin.
Pjanic, 31, made 108 Serie A starts for Juve before departing to Barcelona in 2020, where he clashed with head coach Ronald Koeman and subsequently joined Besiktas on loan in September.
However, with former boss Massimiliano Allegri back in charge in Turin, the midfielder expressed his love for the Bianconeri and admitted he wanted to re-join.
With Juve there have been contacts and appointments with my agent, but the transfer market is never easy, Pjanic told Tuttosport.
I would have liked to come back and I would have done everything to find [Massimiliano] Allegri, a guarantee.
No one is better than him in these situations. Max makes all the players feel important and he doesn t deny anyone a chance. I consider him number one, he s a coach who talks to you for better or for worse.
Allegri s second spell has not started well, picking up just one point in his opening two games – Juve having only failed to win any of their first three Serie A games once in 51 seasons, under the same coach in 2015-16.
We love this. 2-1 win in Naples!
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen)
Dybala, who has been involved in four goals in his last four league games, will be absent for the trip to Napoli but Pjanic implored his former team-mate to commit his future to the club.
[Paulo] Dybala is top, but Iike with everyone, he needs the team, the Bosnia-Herzegovina midfielder continued. I would advise him to stay at Juventus, where they love him.
But these are personal choices, difficult to judge from the outside, because sometimes one feels the need for new challenges.