The mother of Arthur Melo has hit back at comments from Barcelona boss Quique Setien about the midfielder in Friday’s press conference.
The Brazilian midfielder is said to be closing in on a €70m switch to Juventus and his now mother has now indicated that she believes the Catalan club are now trying to blame him for the departure.
Earlier on Friday, it was outlined on Catalan radio station RAC1, via El Mundo Deportivo, that Arthur will travel to Italy to undergo his physical tests with the Italian champions.
The Brazilian is likely to feature for Setien’s side in the weekend game against Celta Vigo due to the injuries of Frenkie de Jong and Sergio Busquets, before then being allowed to travel to Turin.
“Arthur is neither the first player nor the last to sign for a club with high expectations that do not bear fruit,” Setien told reporters, as cited by Cope. “Maybe he lacked a bit of continuity. It is not easy to change things that other coaches have told him were good, like holding the ball when we want to play two touches.”
The player’s mother then posted on social media in a direct response: “My God, now they will start finding flaws with the player.”
Meu Deus,agora começaram até colocar defeitos no jogador
— Luciadmello (@LuciaDMELLO) June 26, 2020
According to the front page of Friday’s edition of Diario Sport, Brazilian midfielder Arthur will join the Italian champions in a €70m deal with Juve midfielder Miralem Pjanic going the other way in a €60m move.
Pjanic, 30, joined the Bianconeri from Roma in the summer of 2016 and has clocked up 170 appearances in that timeframe, scoring 22 goals.
Earlier this week, Diario Sport reported the Bosnian international had turned down more lucrative financial offers from Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain to reach an agreement contractually with the Catalan club.
Arthur joined the Blaugrana in 2018 in a deal from Gremio worth an initial €31m plus a further €9m in variables and he has a contract with the club until the summer of 2024 with a €400m release clause, while transfermarkt gives him a market value of €55m.
As has been widely reported, the Brazilian’s reluctance to leave the Camp Nou has been the biggest stumbling block for the exchange deal being processed.
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“Bruno Fernandes told me that, as a kid, he had a poster of me. He said that when he played Football Manager he always signed me. I was like, ‘You had me on a poster? And, seriously, you sign me for FM?’ I mean, how weird is that?” – Find out who said this right here.
