Liverpool flop finds success in Italy after playing just 13 minutes under Jurgen Klopp

Liverpool flop Arthur Melo has found success after returning to Italy after what was a nightmare spell on Merseyside.

He joined the Reds in a season-long-loan from Juventus last summer as he looked to help add depth to their engine room while simultaneously rejuvenating his own career which had stalled after multiple injuries.

Once a starting midfielder at Barcelona, he played just 13 minutes under Jurgen Klopp, which came during their 4-1 defeat in the Champions League to Napoli in the early knockings of last season.

Fast forward to now and he’s currently enjoying life at Fiorentina, where he moved to this summer on another full season loan.

Italian media outlet Corriere dello Sport recently nicknamed Melo as ‘King Arthur’ after shinning in midfield for the Serie A giants and he’s started in nine of his 12 appearances in total so far, managing one assist.

“I’m at my best physically and mentally, I feel like I’ve never felt before,” Arthur said, in a recent interview discussing his form. And the Italian side currently sit fourth in the league table having just recorded a brilliant 3-1 away win at reigning champions Napoli before the international break.

Arthur is boasing a 93% pass success rate in Serie A as well as 1.8 tackles per game, 4.3 recoveries and he’s winning 61% of his ground duels - it’s really been quite the turnaround.

He spoke out on his time at Liverpool, revealing it was hugely frustrating as he was really excited to experience a new league: “I was really looking forward to playing in a different championship,” he said. “Everything was going very well in a great team, but in training I had an injury.

“It was hard, mentally very hard, but you also learn. Now I look back and got something productive out of the injury. I started to work on the mental part, nutrition, rest and sleep. It was bad luck, but it belongs to the past now.”

The Reds went on to sign Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch to fix their midfield issues, but it’s safe to say Arthur at Liverpool was just one of those moves that wasn’t meant to be.