The Athletic’s James Pearce has explained why Arthur Melo continues to be omitted from Jurgen Klopp’s starting line-ups at Liverpool.
The on-loan midfielder has played just 13 minutes of competitive first team action for the Reds, with that solitary appearance coming against Napoli seven months ago (Transfermarkt).
A thigh injury incurred on October required surgery (The Athletic), and while he’s been named among the substitutes in recent matches, further game-time in a red shirt still evades him.
One Liverpool supporter asked Pearce in a Q&A for The Athletic if the 26-year-old would feature again before the end of his loan spell from Juventus.
The reliable journalist replied: “[The] problem is he wasn’t fully fit when he arrived having not done pre-season at Juve and then missed four months after damaging his thigh.
“So physically he’s been playing catch up. And he probably needs 2/3 games to build up rhythm at a time when LFC desperately need results.
“He’s guaranteed to go back to Juve at the end of his loan. Going to be interesting to see if he does get any minutes between now and then.”
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It’s fair to say that Arthur’s loan spell at Liverpool hasn’t worked out how either he or the club would’ve wanted.
He arrived at Anfield with a solid reputation, having played more than 150 times for Barcelona, Juventus and Brazil combined (Transfermarkt), but misfortune has prevented him from ever getting going on Merseyside.
Like Pearce says, the midfielder has been unfortunate with the composition of the fixture list and the Reds’ current plight combining to deprive him of chances to get a run of games under his belt, having been sidelined for so long.
It’d be a shame for Arthur to leave Liverpool without ever getting the opportunity to prove his worth to the Kop, with supporters left to wonder just how he could’ve impacted the team had he not been so unlucky on the injury front.
Let’s hope he can get a few games at least to make even a short-term impact at Anfield. If Klopp’s side can enjoy a strong finish to the campaign and the 26-year-old makes a valuable contribution towards it, he’d at least go back to Juventus having shown that it was worth our while getting him in on loan.