Spanish journalist Guillem Balague has said that he only has one concern over Arthur joining Liverpool on-loan.
Balague posted a video on his Twitter page in reaction to Liverpool agreeing to sign the midfielder. During the video, the journalist outlined how Arthur has come to this point in his career.
“I used to accuse Arthur Melo of being a little bit conservative in the way he used the ball at Barcelona, but it wasn’t all his fault.,” said Balague. “This was a Barcelona that didn’t move a lot without the ball and often Arthur Melo gave conservative passes, not so many [of the] through passes that he was there for. At Juventus it didn’t really work because the system and style of Allegri didn’t suit him.”
Arthur has endured a frustrating time in Turin over the last two years. But Balague claims that he now feels completely ready for a Premier League challenge with Liverpool.
“He feels not only now that he’s 100% physically well, he feels he could adapt to the Premier League quickly. He reckons Klopp will understand his game much better than Allegri, so the player is really looking forward to coming to Liverpool,” Balague claimed, before airing one small concern.
‘[Arthur is] A great addition, an original if you like, a good addition to the midfield of Liverpool. My only concern is how long it will take him to adapt to the pace of the Premier League.”
Arthur ready for Liverpool challenge
As with any player coming to the Premier League for the first time, there are question marks over how quickly Arthur will adapt.
But it shouldn’t be forgotten that this is a quality player. He joined Barcelona to much fanfare as a young man and dealt with it well.
At times, too much stock can be placed on the difficulty of adapting to the style in England. Sure, some players find it difficult, but just look at what Erling Haaland is doing at Manchester City. Good players can play football wherever they are.
More of a difficulty might be Arthur adapting to the climate in England. So far in his career he has featured in Brazil, Spain and Italy. Turin might not be the warmest part of the Italian Peninsula, but it’s still a fair bit balmier than Merseyside!
Still, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. The 26-year-old is reportedly hugely enthused by the move and should be hungry to prove himself to his for now temporary club.
He’ll also have plenty of players from a similar background to help support him. Alisson Becker, Fabinho and Roberto Firmino will be familiar already to him.
Arthur will also be able to call on Liverpool’s large Spanish and Portuguese speaking contingent to give him a hand with anything.
As a loan signing, and a late one at that, the Brazil international should be given time to find his feet. With Liverpool’s injury crisis biting ever harder in midfield though, he may not get that luxury. It could be sink or swim time for Arthur.
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