Arsenal were desperate to sign Juventus midfielder Arthur Melo during the January transfer window but couldn’t get a deal done.
Edu was keen to bring another midfielder to North London in January but failed to bring in new faces for Mikel Arteta’s engine room.
Edu’s top target was a fellow Brazilian as he looked to bring Arthur from Juventus to Arsenal.
After weeks of speculation, The Athletic suggested that Edu had finally struck an agreement to sign Arthur before the January deadline.
However, others at Arsenal vetoed the deal, which would have seen Arthur go on loan to the Gunners for 18 months with an option to buy for £33.5million.
Arsenal weren’t so keen on those terms and decided to kibosh the move, and with Tottenham Hotspur signing another Juventus midfielder in Rodrigo Bentancur, there was no chance to resurrect the move.
That means Arthur is staying at Juventus at least until the summer, and who knows whether Arsenal will make another attempt.
Arthur, 25, has only started seven league games for Juventus this season. That’s really not what he would have expected after a huge £66million move from Barcelona in 2020.
Arthur has though started the last three Juventus games and is looking to nail down a starting role after missing out on that move to Arsenal.
Now out of the Brazil squad due to his lack of playing time this season, Arthur needs to somehow get his career back on track.
Arthur’s situation has now been discussed by former Italy striker Antonio Cassano and he is far from happy.
As quoted by Calciomercato, Cassano feels that Arthur is a ‘sensational’ player but Allegri is absolutely wasting his career.
Cassano clearly feels that Arthur should be playing regularly for Juventus, and losing out on a Brazil squad may just give Arsenal some hope this summer.
“He is a sensational player and Allegri made him lose the national team,” said Cassano.
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