Miralem Pjanic

Miralem Pjanić (born April 2, 1990) is a Football (soccer) who plays for Olympique Lyonnais in France. Born in Zvornik, Bosnia and Herzegovina (at the time a socialist republic within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), his family moved to Luxembourg when he was still a toddler due to the outbreak of the Bosnian war.

Although he played for the Luxembourg national football team's youth sides as a teenager, in 2007 he revealed that he'd continue his international career playing for Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team instead. That same year, he became a regular for Metz and began to attract the attention of clubs such as Arsenal F.C., FC Barcelona, FC Bayern Munich, F.C. Internazionale Milano, Fenerbahçe S.K., and Real Madrid C.F..
Primarily playing as an attacking midfielder, he is often cited as one of the biggest European talents of his generation.

Club career

Metz

It has been reported

On November 30th, 2007, Pjanić signed a 3-year contract with FC Metz.

Lyon

On June 6, 2008, Miralem signed a 5 year contract with Olympique Lyonnais after Lyon and Metz agreed on a transfer fee of €8 million plus incentives. "I am pleased with the transfer and very happy to have come to a great club such as Lyon. I am here to win trophies and don't feel sorry to have declined other offers to be here in Gerland. Lyon has a great team which can go far in the UEFA Champions League next year." said Pjanic.

International career

Luxembourg youth teams

Pjanić played in the 2006 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship for Luxembourg national football team, for which Luxembourg had qualified automatically as hosts. He scored Luxembourg's only goal: a fantastic first time, long range, dipping effort lobbing Spanish goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo. In that same year a memorable game against Belgium ended 5-5 with Pjanic scoring 4 goals for Luxembourg.

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Around this time, Pjanić's name started to appear in Bosnian newspapers. The local media, often critical of the Bosnian-Herzegovina FA for not keeping track of the country's talents abroad, started citing his case as a possible repeat of the Zlatan Ibrahimović scenario. Soon, prominent figures in the world of Bosnian football (particularly those currently based in France) began to heap praise on Pjanić; Faruk Hadžibegić, for instance, described him as a mix of his legendary teammates Safet Sušić and Mehmed Baždarević. The media attention finally reached full-swing when Pjanić began to cement his place in the Metz first-team squad.

In an interview for a Bosnian newspaper, Pjanić insisted that he only wanted to play for Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team.

Personal life

His family consists of father Fahrudin, mother Fatima, brother Mirza and sister Emina. They all live in Luxembourg