Miralem Pjanić

Metz

Pjanić joined Metz at age 14 on a youth contract and spent approximately three years in the club's academy. In the 2005–06 season, he played on the under-16 team that won the Championnat National des 16 ans and, following the season, signed a five-year élite contract with the club. After spending the 2006–07 season with the club's under-18 team, Pjanić was promoted to the club's amateur team in the Championnat de France Amateur for the 2007–08 season. He appeared in the first two matches of the campaign before earning a call up to the senior team by manager Francis De Taddeo. Pjanić made his professional football debut, at the age of 17, on 18 August 2007 in a league match against Paris Saint-Germain. He appeared as a substitute in a 0–0 draw. The following week, he earned his first start in a 2–0 defeat to Rennes. After a string of respectable appearances, on 30 November 2007, Pjanić signed his first professional contract agreeing to a three-year deal, tying him to Metz until 2010. After becoming professional, he was assigned the number 15 shirt. Pjanić scored his first professional goal for Metz on 15 December 2007 in a 2–1 defeat against Sochaux converting on a penalty in the 88th minute, thus becoming one of the youngest players to score a goal in Ligue 1 history. Among his other positive performances included converting another penalty in a 2–1 loss to Nice and scoring on the final day of the season against Le Mans in a thrilling 4–3 victory. Pjanić's play…

Luxembourg

Due to spending his childhood in Luxembourg, Pjanić became eligible for their national team and began representing the nation's youth sides. He represented Luxembourg in the 2006 European Under-17 Championship, for which Luxembourg qualified automatically as hosts. He scored Luxembourg's only goal of the tournament. In that same year, he scored 4 goals in a match against Belgium, which ended in a 5–5 draw. Before making his decision regarding his national team status, Pjanić was eligible to represent Luxembourg and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

In May 2008, during an interview for Bosnian newspaper, Pjanić stated that he wanted to play for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Eventually, officials in the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina took notice and Pjanić was called up to the country's under-21 team. However, because Pjanić no longer had a Bosnian passport and needed FIFA approval to switch nationalities, he wasn't allowed to be called up for the senior team. After an eight-month wait and following the involvement of Željko Komšić, the Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pjanić received a Bosnian passport in early 2008. He debuted for Bosnia and Herzegovina on 20 August 2008 in the team's 1–2 loss to Bulgaria. On 3 March 2010, he scored his first senior international goal in Bosnia and Herzegovina's 2–1 win over Ghana in Sarajevo. Pjanić was instrumental in Bosnia and Herzegovina's qualification for…

Nicknamed "il Piccolo Principe" ("the Little Prince") during his time with Roma, Pjanić was regarded as one of the most promising young midfielders of his generation in his youth, and was included in Don Balón's list of the 100 best young players in the world in 2010; however, he was also thought to lack composure at times in the media. His Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri touted him as a potentially world class midfielder in 2016, later also adding that, although he was extremely talented, he needed to stay more "calm and focused" in order to fulfil his potential; subsequently, the 2016–17 season saw him establish himself as one of the best, most skillful, and most versatile midfielders in Europe. Although he was neither particularly quick, nor gifted with athleticism or physical strength, Pjanić was described as an efficient "old-fashioned playmaker with huge technical qualities".

Pjanić has been deployed primarily as a central midfielder or as a deep‑lying playmaker, though his tactical versatility has allowed him to operate in several midfield roles. His positional awareness and work rate enabled him to play both in more advanced central positions, including the Italian mezzala role, and occasionally as an attacking midfielder. He has also been used as a second striker on rare occasions. Pjanić's main attributes were his range of passing, dribbling skills, and vision, which made him an excellent assist provider, and also enabled him to dictate the tempo of his…

Pjanić was born on 2 April 1990 in Tuzla, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, in what was then SFR Yugoslavia (modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina); to father Fahrudin Pjanić and mother Fatima Corona. He developed an interest in footballing through his father, a former third division footballer in Yugoslavia, and began his football career in Luxembourg following his family's arrival to the country shortly before the outbreak of the Bosnian War. While in Luxembourg, Pjanić often attended training sessions and matches with his father. At the age of seven, his father discovered that he had talent and an interest in football and allowed his son to join local club FC Schifflange 95 in Schifflange. While at Schifflange, Pjanić drew interest from several Belgian, Dutch and German clubs, but agreed to join Metz in France in 2004. Pjanić was recommended by former Metz player and Luxembourg international Guy Hellers.