Agent predicts whether Liverpool will do £37m Arthur Melo deal with Juventus

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Premier League loanee Arthur Melo is likely to return to Serie A giants Juventus when his time at Liverpool comes to an end, agent Federico Pastorello tells Tuttomercatoweb while seemingly ruling out a permanent move to Anfield. 

As ‘panic buys’ go, this was right up there.

With Jurgen Klopp looking to add some depth to his ageing and injury-prone midfield on the final day of the summer transfer window, Liverpool turned to a man who, in just two years in Turin, missed over 20 games due to a variety of fitness problems. You didn’t need Derren Brown to tell you what was coming next.

Arthur played just 13 minutes of football for the Merseyside giants before the injury curse struck again; a long-term thigh injury keeping the Brazil international on the sidelines from October until March. 

Juventus’ Arthur Melo struggling on loan at Liverpool

“(Arthur) was unlucky. He arrived on the last day of the transfer window,” says Pastorello. 

“He was integrating and had a boring injury, so he had have an operation. It was three months of injury. I hope he can at least give his contribution (to Liverpool).”

Time is running out for Arthur, who represented Barcelona before joining Juventus in a swap deal with Miralem Pjanic, to do just that. The one-time Gremio playmaker was, at least, back on the bench during Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth recently. That was the first time he featured in one of Klopp’s matchday squads for a top-flight fixture since the 3-3 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion six months earlier. 

Arthur’s future, beyond this season, remains up in the air. Pastorello believes that his client will return to Juventus before making a decision over the summer.

“I think he’ll come back from loan,” Pastorello adds. “And then we’ll see what to do.”

There is an option-to-buy clause in Arthur’s Liverpool contract. One that, if triggered, would set the six-time European champions back around £37 million. As things stand, it would take a remarkable turnaround for that to happen.