The Juventus loanee has been rarely seen in the Liverpool team and an overall pointless transfer.
Liverpool have very rarely got it wrong when it comes to their transfer business during Jurgen Klopp’s seven-year tenure so far with trophies becoming an expectation every single season for the club after assembling their high-performing squad.
One player who should be the first out of the door as soon as the final whistle of the final game of the season blows is Arthur Melo, as triggering his option-to-buy from Juventus would make no sense whatsoever.
How much has Arthur Melo cost Liverpool?
The centre of the pitch has been the main focus of concern for supporters and the media following Liverpool over the past two seasons with no permanent addition made to the midfield personnel since the summer of 2020 when Thiago Alcantara joined from Bayern Munich.
FSG got extremely lucky in their lack of investment in midfield players last year as their miracle-working manager led his squad to multiple trophies, however, this season it has been glaringly obvious that the refusal to reinvest is starting to take its toll.
On Deadline Day for the summer transfer window in 2022, Arthur Melo was snapped up by the Liverpool hierarchy to provide a crutch to the already injury-plagued midfield as Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita and Thiago Alcantara had picked up problems in the opening days of the season.
However, the £54k-per-week midfielder – dubbed an “enigma” by James Walsh – suffered an injury blow in early October that left him side-lined for three to four months after undergoing surgery.
It is reported that on top of paying Arthur’s wages, Liverpool also paid a £4m loan fee which means the club have paid £424k for every minute (13) that the 26-year-old has played so far over 28 weeks – with all of those minutes coming from his debut and only display against Napoli in the humiliating 4-1 Champions League defeat.
Since returning from injury a few weeks ago, Arthur has been playing with the youth set-up to build up his strength though Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Liverpool have no interest in triggering the player’s option-to-buy clause.
With that being said, Juventus have absolutely rinsed Liverpool during Arthur’s short stay on Merseyside and supporters will be hoping lessons will be learnt ahead of the upcoming transfer window when getting business done to bolster the midfield.
