€4.5m Liverpool flop could play key role in third signing of summer to replace Fabinho

He’ll go down as a major transfer disappointment in the Anfield annals.

Perhaps not in the same bracket as Andy Carroll, Lazar Markovic, Alberto Aqualani or Mario Balotelli. Yet Arthur Melo’s time at Liverpool will, unfortunately, be remembered for the wrong reasons.

His Reds legacy will be a rushed deadline-day signing after supporters aplenty spent the summer of 2022 clamouring for a premium midfielder to be recruited. Jurgen Klopp disagreed before changing his mind - only when Jordan Henderson, Thiago Alcantara, Curtis Jones, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita all suffered injuries.

A €4.5 million loan fee was paid to Juventus to lend the Brazilian for the remainder of the season. That works out at around €346,000 per minute. Arthur managed just 13 minutes of action in a solitary substitute cameo during a 4-1 loss to Napoli in the Champions League. He required thigh surgery in October and failed to make another appearance following his recovery. It was scarcely a surprise that Liverpool didn’t take up the decision to sign the former Barcelona man on a permanent deal for €37.5 million.

The Reds have moved on to what many hope will be better options. Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai have arrived from Brighton and RB Leipzig respectively for a combined fee of £95 million.

Still, Kopites would like to see Arthur get his career back on track. By all accounts, he was well thought of behind the scenes and endured wretched luck. His future appears away from Juventus, though, and he could remain in Italy. Fiorentina have been linked, per Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano.

And while his contributions on the pitch for Liverpool were scant, he could have an impact even though he’s no longer on the books.

It appears that the Reds will be parting ways with Fabinho. The 29-year-old is the subject of a £40 million bid from Saudia Arabia side Al-Ittihad. That sort of offer is too good to turn down and personal terms are said to already be agreed.

Liverpool will need a replacement for Fabinho, who has been at the fulcrum of the success delivered under Klopp. Bar last season, there’s arguably been no better defensive midfielder in the Premier League since his 2018 arrival.

Several players have been linked, with one being Sofyan Amrabat of Fiorentina. The 26-year-old was the lynchpin of the Morocco side that reached the 2022 World Cup semi-finals in Qatar.

So often, there is a domino effect when it comes to transfers. Once one happens, the others queued up then start to topple over. Should Arthur join Fiorentina then they may feel that they have enough to cope without Amrabat, with a price tag of €40 million suggested. Liverpool could then make their move.