Reliable reporter James Pearce has hinted that one Liverpool player mightn’t feature for the Reds any further this season, or indeed ever.
The 2022/23 campaign has been a thoroughly miserable one for Arthur Melo, who joined on loan from Juventus nearly eight months ago but has made just a solitary 13-minute appearance during an abortive spell with the Reds, which came in the 4-1 Champions League defeat away to Napoli (Transfermarkt).
Injuries haven’t helped his cause but it’s fair to say the move hasn’t gone how any of the parties concerned would’ve wanted, and it seems the 26-year-old won’t get to add to that brief cameo at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona last September.
Reflecting on the Brazilian’s time with Liverpool in an article for The Athletic, Pearce wrote: “He has yet to play in the Premier League or to sample that famous Anfield atmosphere he referenced in that introductory interview and, in truth, there’s little chance of either of those things happening now. For the past three matches, the 26-year-old has not even been named on the bench.
“Arthur, who is preparing to return to Turin this summer, has become Liverpool’s forgotten man, the anticipation he felt on that autumn day at Kirkby having long since dissipated.”
There may be a temptation among some cynics to deride Arthur as an out-and-out flop at Liverpool, but that’d be unfair to a player who’s had no luck whatsoever in his time on Merseyside and who Klopp hailed as having ‘a very exciting career already’ upon the midfielder’s arrival at the club (The Athletic).
The £54k-per-week Brazilian (FBref) was deprived of opportunities to build upon his Reds debut against Napoli due to the postponement of two Premier League games in September arising from the death of Queen Elizabeth II, which along with an international break halted his momentum straight away.
Then, in early October, he tore a thigh muscle in training, necessitating surgery which sidelined him for four months. By the time he could train again in February, he’d been cut from the club’s Champions League squad, while our involvement in both domestic cups had ended.
It’s been a case of one unfortunate blow after another for Arthur at Liverpool, although it’s worth noting some of the observations that Pearce made in his piece for The Athletic.
The 26-year-old willingly played in Papa Johns Trophy games for the Reds’ under-21s in order to build up his fitness, with the journalist describing him as a ‘consummate professional’ about whom ‘no one has a bad word to say’ among the coaching or playing staff at Anfield.
The Brazilian midfielder will simply be praying that his luck will change once he returns to his parent club Juventus in the summer. Goodness knows he’s due it.