Arthur Melo has been tipped to be similar to Thiago Alcantara at Liverpool.
The Reds brought Arthur to Anfield on transfer deadline day, signing him on a season-long loan from Juventus.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has endured a mountain of injuries this season already and most of them are coming in midfield.
It’s been a slow start to life on Merseyside though, with the Brazil international only managing 13 minutes of senior football under Klopp thus far.
But former Liverpool left-back Fabio Aurelio believes the player is Thiago-esque and one who’ll be an ‘interesting addition’.
He told Liverpool’s website: “I believe Arthur Melo is an interesting addition to this Liverpool squad, and it’s obviously great the Brazilian legacy at Liverpool expands. I hope he has the same success as his compatriots. From what I know about him, he should fit really well in Liverpool’s system.
“He’s a player that likes to constantly be in the game, touching the ball, controlling the pace of play, liking to be dynamic – similar to what Thiago likes to do in a sense. I read Klopp highlighted Arthur’s ‘potential’ shortly after he signed on loan. Here in Brazil, the expectations for him were really high prior to his move to Europe. He couldn’t be in a better place to fulfil his potential than at Liverpool under this manager.”
Guillem Balague revealed earlier this week that the 26-year-old is already impressing coaches at Kirkby and he managed 90 minutes for the reserves on Saturday.
The Spanish journalist tweeted specifically in reference to reports that the Reds were already willing to offload the player as soon as January, six months before his loan agreement ends.
But ‘silly season’ doesn’t stop even when the transfer window shuts and with his full game for the Under-21s last night, it’ll be fascinating to see how much better – and fitter – Arthur is after the international break.
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