Valencia coach Gennaro Gattuso has revealed that, while he’d love to sign Brazilian midfielder Arthur Melo from Juventus, he can’t afford him. That’s according to Fabrizio Romano. The signing of Nico Gonzalez from Barcelona, however, is a done deal.
“I’d love to sign Arthur, of course I like him,” Gattuso said. “But we can’t sign him, costs are too high. It makes no sense to discuss it, we can’t sign Arthur.”
Gattuso took over from Jose Bordalas at the beginning of the summer and is working hard to help Valencia improve on last season’s underwhelming ninth-place finish in La Liga. The ambition at Mestalla this season will be to push for Europe.
And signing Arthur would certainly have been a coup. The 25-year-old, born in the Brazilian state of Goiania, came through at Gremio and helped them to win the Copa Libertadores in 2017.
His form with them earned him a move to Barcelona in 2018 but things didn’t work out as planned at Camp Nou and two years later he joined Juventus. He’s been there ever since. A Brazilian international, Arthur has earned 22 caps for his country to date.
Valencia manager Gattuso: “I’d love to sign Arthur, of course I like him – but we can’t sign him, costs are too high”. ⚪️🦇 #Valencia
“Makes no sense to discuss about it, we can’t sign Arthur”, tells Gazzetta.
Nico will be unveiled as new Valencia player, done deal with Barça. pic.twitter.com/cnWZzxuwvr
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 12, 2022
