Barcelona ace has no intention of leaving amid ongoing exit speculation

Barcelona midfielder Arthur ‘wants to remain’ with the Catalan giants and is not thinking about an exit, according to a person close to the Brazilian ace.

Arthur has continued to play a key role for the reigning La Liga champions this season, featuring 23 times while contributing four goals and four assists in those outings.

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Given his age and the presence of stalwarts such as Arturo Vidal, Ivan Rakitic and Sergio Busquets in the squad, the 23-year-old is arguably a crucial long-term solution in that department alongside Frenkie de Jong and has an important role to play in the years ahead.

As noted by Sport though, the Brazilian international continues to be linked to a swap deal with Juventus which would see Miralem Pjanic move in the opposite direction.

Whether or not that would be a smart move from Barcelona is up for debate as Pjanic is now 30 years of age himself, while it’s suggested in the report above that it could just be a straight swap.

However, ESPN Deportes has now reported that a source close to Arthur has reiterated that he wants to stay at Barcelona and has no intention of leaving the Camp Nou any time soon, re-emphasising comments made by his mother this week.

“Arthur wants to remain in Barcelona one hundred percent, he has no intention of changing,” they’re quoted as saying in the report, while adding that there is “nothing because it makes no sense to go to Italy.”

That would seemingly make the player’s stance on the matter clear, although time will tell if that is respected by Barcelona and he stays, or they push for a deal regardless.

For the reasons argued above, it would seem to make more sense to keep him at the club with a long-term strategy in mind particularly if his exit would mean simply receiving Pjanic in return, but time will tell what suits coach Quique Setien’s plans best moving forward and what helps the club to compete for major honours in the coming years.

What is seemingly certain at this stage though based on ESPN’s report above, is that Arthur has no desire to leave Barcelona.