Arsenal were looking to reinforce their squad in the winter market, however, they couldn’t. The Gunners are in dire need of a striker as it also tops their priority for the summer. Arsenal tried to lure Fiorentina striker Dusan Vlahovic in January who had been in scintillating form. But the Serbian chose Juventus over Arsenal. As a result, Arsenal then tried to sign midfielder Arthur Melo from Juventus.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta wanted Arthur to add depth to his squad. The Gunners were dealing with a number of injuries and covid to their players. In such a situation, Arsenal went after the Juventus man who wasn’t featuring regularly for the Italian giants. Juventus signed Arthur Melo from Barcelona for a whopping fee of £68 million back in 2020. Huge things were expected from the midfielder after Juventus splashed such an amount on him. However, Arthur has seen the bench more often than the field for the Italian side.
Arsenal almost had the Juventus midfielder in January
The World Cup is around the corner, and as a result, Arthur is demanding regular minutes with the Old Lady. But it is as if his cry is falling on deaf ears. Though he has 20 league games under his belt this season, Arthur has only managed 958 minutes in those appearances. Furthermore, only 11 of those 20 have been starts to add to his frustration.
As a result, the Juventus midfielder pushed for an exit in the winter market, with Arsenal heavily interested. However, the two sides failed to agree on a deal, which dented Arthur’s hopes of seeing more minutes. Arthur’s agent Federico Pastorello has now confirmed that his client was quite close to making a move to Arsenal in January.
Pastorello told La Repubblica,
“In January, he was close to Arsenal. He is too important a player to be marginalised. He must also think about the national team. With (former Juventus boss Maurizio) Sarri he would have played Jorginho (role). But while Allegri likes him, he wants two physical midfielders”.
It seems that Arthur’s agent is not quite happy with the Juventus boss as well, who reportedly blocked the Brazilian’s move to Arsenal. Back in January, Allegri had said that he didn’t want to lose more players after Kulusevski, Bentancur, and Ramsey left.
“The market? The squad is this and it will remain this, I repeat Arthur came from six months of inactivity, his playing time is increasing and the results are evident, he is a player that cannot be discussed,”
, said Allegri.
Arsenal wanted the Juventus midfielder on loan in January, and could again launch an offer for him in the summer. However, the Gunners have other targets as well which could be pursued more actively than Arthur.
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