Arthur Melo’s time at Juventus has been far from straightforward, and after six months of uncertainty, it looked like his next move might be back to Brazil with Santos.
The Brazilian midfielder found himself on the sidelines after the arrival of Thiago Motta as Juve’s head coach. Motta quickly made it clear that Arthur was not in his plans for the upcoming season. Despite having enjoyed a solid loan spell at Fiorentina the year before, Arthur had no place in the Bianconeri’s squad for the current campaign.
With his future in limbo, Arthur spent the first half of the season training alone while Juve prepared for their season without him. However, with the opening of the January transfer window, Arthur’s agents began working to find a new club for the player. Santos, his former club in Brazil, was one of the first to show interest, especially with the allure of bringing Arthur back to his homeland.
Santos was in talks with Neymar to bring him back to the Brazilian league, and the iconic forward personally urged them to make a move for Arthur as well. The thought of playing alongside Neymar seemed like an attractive proposition for the midfielder, and it seemed like everything was aligned for the move to happen.
However, a bureaucratic issue with Santos halted the transfer, leaving Arthur in limbo once again. As the deal stalled, Girona, a Spanish club, swooped in with an offer, and Arthur decided to continue his career in La Liga instead.
Federico Pastorello, Arthur’s agent, revealed the behind-the-scenes issues that caused the Santos move to fall through. He said, as quoted by Tuttomercatoweb:
“There was a bureaucratic hitch with the Brazilian club that prevented the transfer, but it’s true that he would have gone willingly, also thanks to the intercession of Neymar, who wanted him at all costs. Girona was quick to intervene in this situation, and the solution satisfies us anyway.”
While the move to Santos would have been an exciting prospect for Arthur, it seems that Girona’s intervention has provided him with a new opportunity to continue his career in Europe. Now that the transfer has been completed, the most important thing is that Arthur has a place to play and rebuild his career. Hopefully, he can regain the form that made him one of Brazil’s brightest young talents a few years ago.
