Liverpool say goodbye to most bizarre transfer of Jurgen Klopp era, as latest summer release confirmed
In many ways, the peculiar nature of Arthur Melo’s time at Liverpool summed up an unpredictable season for the Reds
In what was admittedly the least surprising development of Liverpool’s most unpredictable season, Arthur Melo officially revealed this week that he would not, in fact, be making his loan spell at Anfield permanent.
“I’m going to look at it with good eyes next season,” Arthur told Goal this week. “It will be decisive for my career and I’m working very well. I can’t wait to show this new version of Arthur. I hope I have an option to say goodbye to Liverpool by playing something, to say goodbye to my teammates, manager committee and the fans, who have been very good to me. “Since my arrival, [Jürgen] Klopp has treated me very well. It’s an honor for me to work with Jürgen. He’s one of the best coaches in the world, he always spoke well of me. is someone amazing and the treatment has always been really good, elegant and special.
“Being able to train with someone like him always gives you a lot as a player and I’m sure it will help you in the future because you learn a lot from him. Of course, now that I’ve recovered, I I would like to be able to play more, but I can understand that the situation is different now than when I arrived, because then the team had needs and now they have others, but I have the certainty that I need them speak and they tell me that I have nothing wrong, quite the contrary. All of Liverpool in general have also treated me wonderfully and I have nothing but good words for them and a very special affection.”
It was a classy goodbye message from the 26-year-old, as he may have had reason to suspect he might perform at some point after declaring himself fit following surgery in October three months ago. Instead, Arthur is limited to just three appearances in a matchday squad under Jurgen Klopp and hasn’t done so for more than a month.
In many ways, Arthur perhaps personifies the strange and peculiar nature of this entire campaign for the Reds. Here is a Brazilian international – whose two most recent teams have been Barcelona and Juventus – who failed to play a single Premier League minute at a time when Liverpool’s midfield was creaking so badly that it collapsed entirely in multiple places.
Instead, it appears Arthur will leave after a season-long loan which saw him play just 13 minutes in the closing stages of a 4-1 defeat by Napoli in early September. So how did this happen?
Arthur was first seen as a first-class stopgap by Liverpool when he was loaned out by Juventus on transfer deadline day last August. It was a deal quickly sealed after Jordan Henderson was sidelined through injury in the previous night’s win over Newcastle.
With Curtis Jones, Thiago Alcantara, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also sidelined at the time, sporting director Julian Ward held talks with Klopp after midnight to see who could step in to help a midfielder in difficulty on the day of the deadline.
These should be his peak, so wanting him to rate long-term while looking to start his career elsewhere is completely understandable. “I played against Liverpool. I know what it’s like to be in the stadium with the fans behind them,” said Arthur as he arrived in the second leg of the league final more than five years ago. Arthur played at Anfield which says a lot.