Liverpool Turn To Struggling Juventus Midfielder Arthur Melo To Boost Squad Depth

As Jordan Henderson was forced to leave the action during Wednesday night’s PremierPINC
League win over Newcastle United, it was clear that Liverpool were going to have to address their lack of midfield depth.

The club Captain’s thigh injury has seen him join Thiago Alcantara and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the sidelines, but it was still a huge surprise to see Arthur Melo as the player quickly identified as the solution to their problems.

The 26-year-old has struggled mightily since joining Juventus in the summer of 2020, in a deal that raised more than a few eyebrows at the time. According to their official website, the Bianconeri paid Barcelona €72 million ($72m) for Arthur, while at the same time sending Miralem Pjanić in the opposite direction for €60 million ($60m).

It was an exchange which, per ESPN, was one of 62 transfers that the Italian authorities investigated last year – a matter discussed in detail in this previous column – with ultimately no action taken.

Even putting aside the huge fee, it has to be said that Arthur has been a major disappointment for Juventus. To date, he has made just 63 appearances for the club in all competitions, a figure that includes starts in just 24 Serie A matches and four UEFAEFA
Champions League games.

He has scored only one goal, registered zero assists, and completed a full 90 minutes on just 13 occasions, while missing a total of 23 matches as a result of a number of different injuries.

Many of those performances were nowhere near the calibre needed at a club like Juventus, particularly in their disappointing Champions League exits to Villarreal last season and FC Porto in the previous campaign.

There have been some major individual mistakes on the field too, including a woeful pass against Benevento that allowed Adolfo Gaich to score an unlikely winner at Juventus Stadium back in March 2021.

One of his biggest and most vocal critics has been Fabio Capello, who earlier this year lambasted the Brazilian for only passing backwards and sideways, saying on Sky Italia that “I never did like him.”

“Whatever you do,” Capello continued, “don’t ask Arthur for a long pass. He looks like he’s playing rugby, but he does that well.” (The joke being that in rugby, players are not allowed to pass the ball forwards.)

But now, with Liverpool desperate for additions in midfield, they have turned to Arthur to provide some quality, with him pictured above leaving Turin to undergo a medical in Liverpool on Thursday afternoon.

That should see the player follow former team-mates Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski to the Premier League.

They too struggled at Juve but are now thriving at Tottenham, and it will be interesting to see if Arthur can similarly reignite his once promising career away from the Old Lady, or if his struggles with form and fitness continue.

Jurgen Klopp has created the perfect environment for success at Anfield, so it really will show whether Arthur Melo has what it takes, or if his moment has already passed.