Manchester United’s transfer pursuit of Gremio midfielder, Arthur Melo took a huge blow as reports came out confirming an agreement between the player and La Liga giants, Barcelona.
The Catalan club has already held a meeting with the player and his family over the prospects of playing to the La Liga and the outcome is more than ideal. Arthur is eager to make the move to Catalonia and the directors of Barcelona are currently negotiating with Gremio over the transfer fee with the player’s release clause rumoured to be around the £50m mark.
The 21-year-old is a central midfielder by trade and is a first-team regular for the Brazilian outfit having made 40 appearances for the club so far. Barcelona have noticed his talents in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A and sent over scouts to watch him play in the final of the Copa Libertadores last year. The La Liga giants are well aware that Arthur’s talents will not go unnoticed for too long and are eager to make an early move.
Ever since Pep Guardiola departed from the Camp Nou and Xavi Hernandez retired from football, the Barcelona midfield has seen quite a few faces get shuffled around over the past few seasons. Andres Iniesta has kept his place along with Sergio Busquets in the anchor position, but that has not stopped the club from signing young players for excessive fees.
Denis Suarez and Andre Gomes arrived in the summer of 2016 and has so far found it hard to break into the first team. Paulinho have been an inspiring presence with an incredible 8-goal tally this season and it looks like Philippe Coutinho will carve out a starting spot in the attacking midfield role or from the wide areas. Ivan Rakitic is also favoured by Ernesto Valverde and this obviously makes the odds of younger players making it into the starting XI highly unlikely.
Every manager and coach in top-flight football is aware of the depth a side needs to contend for multiple trophies in a single season. Winning the league title is never enough and now that Barcelona’s direct rivals, Real Madrid have won the Champions League for the past two seasons consecutively, Valverde’s men are supercharged in their mission to overtake the Galacticos as the champions of Europe.
The best way to ensure a future as a dominant European side is to purchase or develop youngsters into the Spanish game as early as possible. While obtaining his services will come as a huge boost to the fans at Camp Nou, Jose Mourinho has been dealt a huge blow in his future plans with Manchester United.
He will have to scout the market to find a replacement for the wantaway Belgian, Marouane Fellaini and an ageing Michael Carrick.
