Should Barcelona back off from Arthur agreement?
Barcelona had reached an agreement with Grêmio over the potential future transfer of 23-year old Brazilian midfielder Arthur Melo. The club has an option of signing Arthur for a fee of €39 million, including bonuses and add-ons, in the January transfer window of 2019.
But signing an uncapped Brazilian midfielder would be an unwise move for a club with two confirmed non-EU players (Paulinho and Philippe Coutinho) and three other non-EU players (Marlon Santos, Douglas and Yerry Mina) expected to leave, especially considering that the club is targeting Cristian Pavón, who also doesn’t hold European citizenship.
Although Coutinho is scheduled to gain Portguese dual nationality, he may not be able to get it in time for Arthur’s arrival at the Camp Nou. And with the attack lacking depth and Paco Alcácer set to leave, the signing of Cristian Pavón is a more of a requirement than a luxury.
Andrés Iniesta’s departure after signing a new contract may have worried the Barça management, but they should look for European players to reinforce the squad. Of course, Carles Aleñá has been called up to the first-team squad but the club still needs to find a replacement for André Gomes.
Currently, the management has three options on the table to solve this issue. The first is an internal solution. Sergi Roberto can be moved into the midfield, while Nélson Semedo can take his place in the first-team. B team captain Sergi Palencia can be promoted to the senior squad to act as backup to the pacy Portuguese right-back.
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As for the external solution, it is what the club is pursuing right now. The club was being linked with a move for Frenkie de Jong, which fell through as Ajax were unwilling to negotiate for the young defensive midfielder.
But there are other options in the market as well, including De Jong’s teammate at Ajax, Donny van de Beek and transfer-listed Bayern star and La Masia graduate Thiago Alcântara.
The third option is to gamble on Coutinho’s citizenship status and sign Arthur in January, while keeping Rafinha at the club till that time to back up Ivan Rakitić and compete with Carles Aleñá for playing time.
The first option would be a promotion of La Masia, which obviously would be a good choice. The second choice is not bad either, since there are a lot of young players in the market and the fact that Sergio Busquets needs a successor.
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But the third is too risky, not only because of Philippe Coutinho’s citizenship problem, but also because Arthur has no experience in Europe whatsoever and may turn out to be a high-profile failure. Hence, the management should consider leaving the Arthur option unused.