Tim Vickery has claimed that he is ‘surprised’ by Liverpool’s move for Arthur Melo on transfer deadline day and how the player is better suited to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, as he told Sky Sports News (01/08/22 at 12:50 pm).
The South American football expert added that the Juventus midfielder, who is closing on a season-long loan move to Jurgen Klopp’s side, is ‘more a possession-based’ midfielder.
A number of weeks ago, Klopp was ignoring calls from his own fans to dip into the transfer market and add a much-needed midfielder to their ranks.
Liverpool have the numbers, but constant injuries to the likes of Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the age of Jordan Henderson and James Milner, has raised more questions than answers in the middle of the park.
Not forgetting that Thiago Alcantara is also sidelined, then they have to rely on young duo Fabio Carvalho and Harvey Elliott, either way, another option was needed.
And now he is coming in the form of Arthur, as Vickery shared his thoughts on this possible move and the type of player the Reds are going to get.
“Surprised and intrigued,” said Vickery. “Liverpool at their best, they are so vertical, they are so relentlessly verticle and Arthur is a more possession-based midfielder.
“You can see him more of a Guardiola-type of midfielder, rather than a Jurgen Klopp-type of a midfielder. When he came up through the ranks, there were huge expectations of him at Grêmio.
“He was always seen as a Barcelona midfielder and that’s where his European adventure started. It hasn’t all come off. The central midfielders (of Brazil) seem to have found it the hardest to adapt to top-level European football. And he hasn’t been getting a game at Juventus.
“There is a player there. Lovely low centre of gravity. Excellent at keeping possession. It looks as though it’s going through and one no-one saw coming.”
LIVERPOOL GET THEIR MIDFIELDER
The Reds don’t splash the cash like a certain state-owned club, but that’s the attack and midfield that has been added to this summer.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Liverpool fans view this window because the biggest body blow was losing Sadio Mane.
Whilst everyone looks towards a certain Darwin Nunez as his replacement, it’s in actual fact Luis Diaz who has replaced him on the left flank.
There were some suggestions that his January move would have happened in the summer had it not been for Tottenham knocking for him in the winter.
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