Newcastle could now sign ‘incredible’ midfielder who played just 13 minutes last season

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Despite only registering 13 minutes of first-team football last season while on loan at Liverpool, Newcastle United are interested in signing Brazilian midfielder Arthur Melo from Juventus.

According to a report from Tuttomercatoweb in Italy Newcastle and Aston Villa are set to offer Arthur Melo an opportunity to stay in the Premier League where he spent last season on loan from Juventus.

Despite signing for Liverpool at the start of last season, an injury-hit season saw Arthur making just one first-team appearance for the Reds playing 13 minutes in the game against Napoli in September.

Arthur hasn’t kicked a ball for Liverpool since his recovery from surgery

He was an unused substitute in seven Premier League games throughout the season either side of his long spell out of action due to having surgery on a torn quad muscle which kept him out of contention for around five months.

The 26-year-old Brazil international is now due to return to Juventus, but it’s believed that The Old Lady will be looking to move him on this summer.

Newcastle and Aston Villa are hoping to use Arthur’s experience to guide them through their upcoming European campaigns.

If either club does move for Arthur it sounds like they’d have to get him in quickly in order to work with him over the summer break to make sure he will be back up to speed for competitive football at the start of the season.

Step aside Newcastle – Let Aston Villa take the risk on this one

For me this one looks a bit too risky for Newcastle. He’s obviously a good player having played for Barcelona, Juventus and Liverpool as well as having 22 caps for Brazil, but his lack of football following that surgery is a huge worry.

He’s not yet been tested and the last thing Newcastle need is to take a chance on a player only to have them ruled out for the season due to an injury they were already aware of when he signed.

Let Villa take the risk on this one. Newcastle have a lot better players on their wish list that can play defensive midfield. In fact, we have better players already on the books who can fill that position – Joelinton, Bruno Guimaraes and Sean Longstaff can all play that role.