Arthur Melo - Juventus's old number five

Raees

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For me he was Barcelona's most impressive player during preseason and having not seen much of him during the start of the season proper - yesterday he once again caught the eye.

Anyone follow his career back in Brazil?
 

Rajma

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Feck Barca and Madrid for having an upper hand in going for these super talents.
 

Irrational.

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Looks like an absolutely brilliant buy - the reincarnation of Iniesta. Play very similarly too. Looking forward to seeing him develop at Barca.
 

Invictus

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Anyone follow his career back in Brazil?
He was really impressive at Grêmio as well, and probably the most promising Brazilian midfielder in recent years — great technique and eye for passing and maneuverability in tight spaces, however there is a risk associated with Brazilian imports to the highest level in club football, so there was obvious caveat wrt. to his assessments. Thought he should have joined a smaller club to develop (the biggest club tournament Arthur played was the Copa Libertadores and he was excellent in the final...but that's still below the expected level of the Champions League). So far he's progressing quite well at Barcelona — mind, even Kaká was thought of as a developmental player who would be loaned out by Milan, so who knows with the reserved predictions, really.

Overview of last season (arguably the best possession player in Brazil):
 
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He’s tiny but can protect the ball better than our titans.
This is what Jose fails to understand this is why he needs to start playing Pereira more - he's small but knows how to protect the ball
 

Fortitude

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He was really impressive at Grêmio as well, and probably the most promising Brazilian midfielder in recent years — great technique and eye for passing and maneuverability in tight spaces, however there is a risk associated with Brazilian imports to the highest level in club football, so there was obvious caveat wrt. to his assessments. Thought he should have joined a smaller club to develop (the biggest club tournament Arthur played was the Copa Libertadores and he was excellent in the final...but that's still below the expected level of the Champions League). So far he's progressing quite well at Barcelona — mind, even Kaká was thought of as a developmental player who would be loaned out by Milan, so who knows with the reserved predictions, really.

Overview of last season (arguably the best possession player in Brazil):
Goes to show that there is still talent out there that we really have no excuse not to be aiming for. It annoys me when these type of players 'suddenly' emerge and are so good because it begs the question of what the scouts are doing, or the those who make a decision off the back of what the scouts suggest, are doing that they are so often overlooked.
 

kouroux

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Goes to show that there is still talent out there that we really have no excuse not to be aiming for. It annoys me when these type of players 'suddenly' emerge and are so good because it begs the question of what the scouts are doing, or the those who make a decision off the back of what the scouts suggest, are doing that they are so often overlooked.
I see the whole thing as when you are searching for players in FIFA or PES. Our main parameters are height and physical strength.
Other clubs have others
 

Ish

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Didn't Barca have the deal in place for a while though and either loaned him back to Gremio or something though, right? @Invictus

All I heard of him before this season was that he was a CM and a very highly rated talent back in Brazil.

Barca should just get Thiago back now and that might be the closest they get to reinventing the Busquets/Xavi/Iniesta trio :drool:
 

TrueRed79

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This is why they wont be signing Pogba. Why would they need him when they have this guy?
 

Adisa

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I see people lambast our scouts again. Pretty sure he'd look average if we signed him and our fans would be asking why we didn't sign other players.
 

Apokalips

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I think this whole narrative that the Prem is so much tougher to adapt and that we should go after "Prem proven" players is so deeply embedded that our club refuse to take "risks" on these talents direct from South America.

We're rich enough to be able to take the odd punt the way Real and Barca do. Obviously weather and language may play a part, but City went and took Jesus for example and have kept guys like Kun so it's not be all, end all.
 
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roonster09

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I think this whole narrative that the Prem is so much tougher to adapt and that we should go after "Prem proven" players is so deeply embedded that our club refuse to take "risks" on these talents direct from South America.

We're rich enough to be able to take the odd punt the way Real and Barca do. Obviously weather and language may play a part, but City went and took Jesus for example and have kept guys like Kun so it's not be all, end all.
We don't sign premier league proven players at all. We have signed plenty of players from outside the league in last 4 years.
Di Maria
Herrera
Rojo
Blind
Falcao
Martial
Depay
Darmian
Schweinsteiger
Romero
Pogba
Mkhitaryan
Bailly
Zlatan
Lindelof
Fred
Dalot
Valdes

Yeah, we don't sign players directly from South Ameria, think it's to do with work permits. Maybe wrong but remember reading it once.
 

charlenefan

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This is why they wont be signing Pogba. Why would they need him when they have this guy?
Indeed and it looks like they'll be getting Rabiot on a free as well

I'm really on the fence as to whether Pogba at Barca would actually work for them
 

Cait Sith

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Looks like an absolutely brilliant buy - the reincarnation of Iniesta. Play very similarly too. Looking forward to seeing him develop at Barca.
He looks more like Xavi with his turns and head always up and checking his surroundings. He even walks like him. Lacks the final ball for now, though.
 

Spiersey

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Was very good for Gremio, his performances so far are no surprise. Will be a mainstay of that Barca side for the next 10 years.
 

Invictus

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Goes to show that there is still talent out there that we really have no excuse not to be aiming for. It annoys me when these type of players 'suddenly' emerge and are so good because it begs the question of what the scouts are doing, or the those who make a decision off the back of what the scouts suggest, are doing that they are so often overlooked.
To be fair, we were linked with him as well, albeit by dodgy sources. Having said that, your general point definitely stands — of course, we can't sign every promising talent, but there's something amiss with our player assessment and recruitment from a scouting standpoint, as well as the labored nature of our negotiations in the transfer market from an administrative standpoint — considering everything that has transpired in recent years.

For instance, we knew that Matić was going to be a short term signing , yet we didn't prioritize a young #6 in the winter or summer market, even though Rodri had a very reasonable ~€18 million clause at Villarreal and would have been a signing along the lines of Dalot — now he's at Atlético on a 5 year deal with a €100 million clause, and will suddenly crop up on our radars as Matić deteriorates further and we scramble to procure a potentially world-class defensive/holding midfielder. There are still tons of young players that United could buy to improve the squad over the coming transfer windows: Chiesa, Ndombélé, Gómez (Celta #9), De Jong and De Ligt (probably already out of our range), Ünder and so forth...let's see how many end up at the club.
Didn't Barca have the deal in place for a while though and either loaned him back to Gremio or something though, right? @Invictus
Yep!

Arthur Melo will stay at Gremio until December. That's what the club's president, Romildo Bolzan Júnior, has claimed amid rumours Barcelona want to do the deal this summer.

"There's no chance that Arthur leaves the club in the coming months because it's already written down, there's a contract signed and that is not a possibility," he said. "Barcelona have never brought to the table any interest in signing Arthur halfway through the [Brazilian] season. "The only right that Barça have is an option to buy him, in which case they must do the transaction before July 15."

Gremio's position is in line with Barça's initialy thoughts to bring Arthur to Camp Nou in January of 2019 when the South American season finishes. Barça have already spent four million euro on Arthur to obtain the option to buy him and the total cost will be 30 million plus nine in add-ons in the event that they do the deal in July -- when they're in the new financial year. However, he will not join until halfway through the next Spanish season.

https://www.sport-english.com/en/ne...ce-that-arthur-leaves-before-december-6838391
 

Keeps It tidy

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He actually looks like a Barca type midfielder and the type of midfielder Brazil does not always produce.
 

Ish

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@Invictus thanks bud.

I've actually been thinking about the "option", a financial instrument, to acquire someones services in football for a while. I don't think it's used often or well enough by clubs, especially the big clubs, where young developing talent is concerned.
 

Flanders Devil

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@Invictus thanks bud.

I've actually been thinking about the "option", a financial instrument, to acquire someones services in football for a while. I don't think it's used often or well enough by clubs, especially the big clubs, where young developing talent is concerned.
Agree totally with your thinking around options. And it makes so much more sense in a hyper inflated market where it seems the assets rise significantly from window to window. You essentially de-risk your transfer during the most risky stage - I’m assuming it’s used primarily for up coming talent - whilst not stunting their development by sticking them in the reserves etc.

I get a sense Real and Barca do actually use it quite well/frequently, like I think Vinicius was ‘optioned’ for real iirc (could be wrong). But we and other English clubs don’t seem to use this nearly as much as it would seem logical.
 
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arthurka

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He looks more like Xavi with his turns and head always up and checking his surroundings. He even walks like him. Lacks the final ball for now, though.
Totally agree. My friend has been a Barca supporter for many years and he agreed with me when I brought it up yesterday. Plays like Xavi.
 

antohan

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@Invictus thanks bud.

I've actually been thinking about the "option", a financial instrument, to acquire someones services in football for a while. I don't think it's used often or well enough by clubs, especially the big clubs, where young developing talent is concerned.
The problem with all those things is you need to have the first clue what you are after. Not having a dig at Mourinho here. Moyes, LvG, Mourinho... imagine LvG being told "hey, we have these three players we placed options on under Moyes!". Waste of money. Likely the same with Mourinho inheriting LvG punts, and whoever eventually comes next (surely will be some sort of attack, attack, attack manager) with Mourinho punts.

If you keep hiring disparate managers with disparate styles this is what you get. I can spot a Barca player a mile away, don't need to be a scout for that.
 

MrBest

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He was amazing on football manager last year! Was a 100m player after 2 years! Got me 30 goals from midfield in 2 years too in just 85 matches. That's obviously as far as my knowledge goes but I'm glad to see another FM talent out there at a big club. Will be keeping an eye out for him.
 

the_irish123

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He was amazing on football manager last year! Was a 100m player after 2 years! Got me 30 goals from midfield in 2 years too in just 85 matches. That's obviously as far as my knowledge goes but I'm glad to see another FM talent out there at a big club. Will be keeping an eye out for him.
The depressing part is that if we followed FM rather than our scouting system, we would've had 300% more success in past 5 years or so.
 

izec

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He is pretty good at keeping the ball and doing the simple stuff. I would like to see if he can be really creative and play the killer pass on a consistent level.
 

harms

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I thought my eyes were deceiving me because he looked so much like Iniesta (number included) in the first minutes when I turned the game on. He looked great yesterday.