Arthur Melo - Juventus's old number five

criticalanalysis

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I wonder if our scouts identify and create reports on players like him.
Doesn't matter who we have in the squad with Mourinho in charge.

Peirera, Fred and Herrera behind Fellani, McTominay and others in 2 man suicidal midfield.
 

meamth

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Those turns in midfield. :drool:


Midfielders like this indirectly create chances. He makes 4 players press him, then dribbles and slips the ball through, which results in us outnumbering our opponents going forward.
I thought Fred was that midfielder...highest dribbling success rate in CL last year :(
 

Charles Miller

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I thought Fred was that midfielder...highest dribbling success rate in CL last year :(
Fred can do that. He is just not playing well in the moment. But you know how fans are these days, he is going to play well some game and they will forget the criticism.
 

WR10

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I thought Fred was that midfielder...highest dribbling success rate in CL last year :(
He is. Very impressive in tight spaces. Unfortunately, he doesn't really get a consistent shot at playing football.
 
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Is he Iniesta incarnate?
To me Yes. Many people don't know Iniesta first started out in the Guardiola role. But his attacking was a so good he was moved further up field. His defensive game has thus always been underrated. This Arthur kid remind same of the first times I saw Iniesta player for Barca as a senior.
 

Adisa

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He'd struggle here, everyone does. So there's no point wishing.
 

Fergietime@99

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Fred can do that. He is just not playing well in the moment. But you know how fans are these days, he is going to play well some game and they will forget the criticism.
he played really well against wolves. I hope mourinho starts him, Pogba and mata/Herrera/pereira in a 3 man midfield
 

cesc's_mullet

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To me Yes. Many people don't know Iniesta first started out in the Guardiola role. But his attacking was a so good he was moved further up field. His defensive game has thus always been underrated. This Arthur kid remind same of the first times I saw Iniesta player for Barca as a senior.
I remember Iniesta being a DM in CM03/04
 

Enigma_87

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To me Yes. Many people don't know Iniesta first started out in the Guardiola role. But his attacking was a so good he was moved further up field. His defensive game has thus always been underrated. This Arthur kid remind same of the first times I saw Iniesta player for Barca as a senior.
They had Deco and Ronaldinho at the time. Tough crowd to break in when you are young in attacking position.
 

Adisa

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I feel like every post of yours is depressing as feck these days. Everything ok?!
I'm not even trying to moan.
We like to go "why did we sign this guy instead of that guy". When will people get tired of that?
We signed a midfielder with the same sort of qualities as Arthur for £50m but he's nowhere to be found.
 

Stocar

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He's not really that similar to Iniesta. Doesn't have that silky touch and ability to glide past players effortlessly. When Iniesta started playing for the first team he was a bit too much tactically constrained and didn't impose himself enough. But the talent and class were obvious from the start.

Arthur doesn't have that (nor the playmaking vision of Xavi) but he's great at keeping the ball, and looks more tough and resilient than both Xavi and Iniesta were at the same age. Very interesting player.
 
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They had Deco and Ronaldinho at the time. Tough crowd to break in when you are young in attacking position.
He came through before they arrived. He used to play Pep's role. He just however proved so good going forward that his role advanced up pitch the more he played. He even became Deco's direct cover. But injuries were messing with him Steve Gerrard style at the time. IIRC
 

Yagami

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Those turns in midfield. :drool:


Midfielders like this indirectly create chances. He makes 4 players press him, then dribbles and slips the ball through, which results in us outnumbering our opponents going forward.
I never watch Barca so I haven't seen him before, but those turns are great. I love seeing a player do them. It's one of the reasons I was a huge fan of signing Alexis.

I think Fekir's the best player in the world at them at the moment. The ball is literally glued to his feet when he does them no matter how much pressure he's under.
 

the_irish123

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He's not really that similar to Iniesta. Doesn't have that silky touch and ability to glide past players effortlessly. When Iniesta started playing for the first team he was a bit too much tactically constrained and didn't impose himself enough. But the talent and class were obvious from the start.

Arthur doesn't have that (nor the playmaking vision of Xavi) but he's great at keeping the ball, and looks more tough and resilient than both Xavi and Iniesta were at the same age. Very interesting player.
You havent been watching him then, teams basically give up on pressing him he just glides past them. The Xavi comparison is not that good because Arthur doesn’t play the killer pass, more of a carrier of ball.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Really like this player. He's not Iniesta talented but he's an exciting player nevertheless.
 

Stocar

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You havent been watching him then, teams basically give up on pressing him he just glides past them. The Xavi comparison is not that good because Arthur doesn’t play the killer pass, more of a carrier of ball.
Like I said, Arthur is very good at beating the pressing and seems to have great work rate and resilience about him. But Iniesta was world class at getting past players and controlling the ball anywhere on the pitch, including the final third. That's an extremely rare and exceptional skill that appears once in a generation. Also, Xavi's genius wasn't in picking a final or most incisive pass, but consistently picking (and timing) the most clever one.
 

RooneyLegend

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Passing range away from being unplayable. The player he reminds me most of is Jay jay Okocha, without the tricks. He has this amazing ability to stop time on the pitch.
 

Oldyella

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I'm not even trying to moan.
We like to go "why did we sign this guy instead of that guy". When will people get tired of that?
We signed a midfielder with the same sort of qualities as Arthur for £50m but he's nowhere to be found.
True, but if we give up on even thinking about signing of good players what else is there to get excited about? At some point our manager and playing style will change. Hopefully.
 

charlenefan

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I'm not even trying to moan.
We like to go "why did we sign this guy instead of that guy". When will people get tired of that?
We signed a midfielder with the same sort of qualities as Arthur for £50m but he's nowhere to be found.
Even if Fred should be playing Arthur appears to be on a few other levels than Fred. Arthur's a very very special talent based on what's been seen this far this season
 

Adisa

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True, but if we give up on even thinking about signing of good players what else is there to get excited about? At some point our manager and playing style will change. Hopefully.
I'm not saying we shouldn't be after good players, I'm just saying it's no use wishing for every good player out there. I'm sure our scouts were aware of Arthur. I read somewhere that we have three permanent scouts in Brazil. But we felt Fred was worth 50m and plays in the national team ahead of Arthur.

Even if Fred should be playing Arthur appears to be on a few other levels than Fred. Arthur's a very very special talent based on what's been seen this far this season
It's easy to say x is better than our player when x plays in a functioning team.
I'm pretty sure if Fred had signed for some other team, we'd be wishing we bought him. Too early to start making judgements in comparison between Fred and Arthur .
 

Oldyella

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I'm not saying we shouldn't be after good players, I'm just saying it's no use wishing for every good player out there. I'm sure our scouts were aware of Arthur. I read somewhere that we have three permanent scouts in Brazil. But we felt Fred was worth 50m and plays in the national team ahead of Arthur.


It's easy to say x is better than our player when x plays in a functioning team.
I'm pretty sure if Fred had signed for some other team, we'd be wishing we bought him. Too early to start making judgements in comparison between Fred and Arthur .
Ah, ok get you.

Yeah, I would say that sums the club up atm, scared to take chances and would rather overspend on players(or managers) "with experience of X situation".
 

Casanova85

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Finally, an unknown yet highly technical young brazilian player that (it seems that way, so far) is proving to be an excellent tactical player in Europe, not some overhyped fiasco. Busquets-Rakitic-Arthur is already their best midfield for the season, that means sacrificing Dembelé for Cou in the attack. Dembelé is done, that's what I think. He should move to another club ASAP.

PS: If Barça has this kind of scouting, Man Utd should have it too. Why not? :mad:
 

charlenefan

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I'm not saying we shouldn't be after good players, I'm just saying it's no use wishing for every good player out there. I'm sure our scouts were aware of Arthur. I read somewhere that we have three permanent scouts in Brazil. But we felt Fred was worth 50m and plays in the national team ahead of Arthur.


It's easy to say x is better than our player when x plays in a functioning team.
I'm pretty sure if Fred had signed for some other team, we'd be wishing we bought him. Too early to start making judgements in comparison between Fred and Arthur .
Not really, Fred looks like a handy player and should be playing more than he is, but Arthur looks something else entirely
 

youmeletsfly

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He's not really that similar to Iniesta. Doesn't have that silky touch and ability to glide past players effortlessly. When Iniesta started playing for the first team he was a bit too much tactically constrained and didn't impose himself enough. But the talent and class were obvious from the start.

Arthur doesn't have that (nor the playmaking vision of Xavi) but he's great at keeping the ball, and looks more tough and resilient than both Xavi and Iniesta were at the same age. Very interesting player.
Dunno if you watch him that often, but I think that is his biggest strength, gliding past players. He jus seems to have an eye for opposing players that run at him, notice their direction and just drop the shoulder around them and glide past, it s really nice to see it.

I can t really remember any midfield player of such elegance in going past players, and immense balance. He doesn t have the Iniesta turn or the Xavi killer pass, I d go as far as saying he is a completely different player, but in a good way.

He s not perfect and not even close in terms of quality to iniesta or xavi yet, but seeing him play, I just can t help myself thinking he will be something special one day. Just has that elegance and flow in movement, like Hagi had to be honest.

On the bad side though, he s not very disciplined at times with his positioning, sometimes he s 2 yards ahead or behind the play. This is where xavi(or scholes)was in a class of his own. If he works on this part of he s game, damn he ll be a fine @SS player.
 

Infordin

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Finally, an unknown yet highly technical young brazilian player that (it seems that way, so far) is proving to be an excellent tactical player in Europe, not some overhyped fiasco. Busquets-Rakitic-Arthur is already their best midfield for the season, that means sacrificing Dembelé for Cou in the attack. Dembelé is done, that's what I think. He should move to another club ASAP.

PS: If Barça has this kind of scouting, Man Utd should have it too. Why not? :mad:
When Suarez inevitably hits another bad patch where he can’t control a football to save his life, Messi should play as false 9 and Dembele should play on the right wing. Valverde lacks the balls to drop Suarez though.

Vidal is another player who isn’t being utilized as much as he should. Rakitic is being run into the ground while Vidal is only getting 15 minutes at the end of games. Vidal should really be playing more.
 

Stocar

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Dunno if you watch him that often, but I think that is his biggest strength, gliding past players. He jus seems to have an eye for opposing players that run at him, notice their direction and just drop the shoulder around them and glide past, it s really nice to see.
I already responded to a similar post. Gliding past players (vertically, in the final third) was Iniesta's exceptional skill that he had in addition to ability to beat the press with clever turns. In that regard, Arthur is more similar to Xavi. Doesn't have Xavi's vision and anticipation, but makes up for it with immense work rate and resilience. They seem to have finally found a new midfield maestro.
 

MUfreak

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Immense talent there. Wondering how a de jong, Ruben Neves and Arthur midfield three would look like.
 

Eric's Seagull

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PS: If Barça has this kind of scouting, Man Utd should have it too. Why not? :mad:
Think you are right on this. As we also have 5 scouts in Argentina and should be unearthing these type of players. Don't know what profile of players the scouts are told to look for exactly (obviously talented ones). But we seem to be missing something somewhere.
 

Sauldogba

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Am i the only one who think his style of play is closer to Busquets than Iniesta?
 

cesc's_mullet

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Finally, an unknown yet highly technical young brazilian player that (it seems that way, so far) is proving to be an excellent tactical player in Europe, not some overhyped fiasco. Busquets-Rakitic-Arthur is already their best midfield for the season, that means sacrificing Dembelé for Cou in the attack. Dembelé is done, that's what I think. He should move to another club ASAP.

PS: If Barça has this kind of scouting, Man Utd should have it too. Why not? :mad:
Send him to Arsenal please