Juventus have officially terminated their contract with Arthur Melo with a ‘negative effect’ on their finances, but the true cost could be €1.48m per match for this truly disastrous signing from Barcelona.
There were already eyebrows being raised when the deal was announced in 2020, seeing fan favourite Miralem Pjanic move to Barcelona in exchange for Arthur Melo.
FLORENCE, ITALY – MAY 13: Head coach Vincenzo Italiano manager of ACF Fiorentina and Arthur Melo of ACF Fiorentina celebrate the victory after during the Serie A TIM match between ACF Fiorentina and AC Monza at Stadio Artemio Franchi on May 13, 2024 in Florence, Italy.(Photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images)
As part of that agreement, Juve also handed over cash because Arthur was valued at €72m plus €10m in add-ons, compared to Pjanic’s €60m plus €5m bonus.
Arthur Melo the worst ever Juventus buy?Arthur Melo of Juventus looks on during his warm-up session prior to kick-off in the Serie A match between Genoa CFC and Juventus at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on April 30, 2022 in Genoa, Italy. (Photo by Getty Images)
Calcio e Finanza took a deeper look at the figures, noting they can add the nearly €20m gross payment of wages over the years, which take the total spent on the Brazilian to €100m.
The club pocketed circa €7.2m in loan fees when he played for Liverpool, Fiorentina and Girona, taking the costs back down to €93m.
Even with that in mind, he played only 63 competitive games for the Bianconeri, scoring one goal and providing one assist.
That means Arthur realistically cost €1.48m per match in the Juventus shirt.
Considering most of those were substitute appearances, it is calculated that the player cost €28,000 per minute on the field.
It will be genuinely difficult making these calculations to find a worse transfer in the history of the club.
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