Juventus, Fiorentina close to agreeing to Arthur Melo loan deal

Some good news for a change.

As much as the Romelu Lukaku wave of rumors has taken over things of late, Juventus’ front office is very much aiming to do one main thing at the moment — sell off the deadwood as the squad gets ready to head to the United States for a trio of preseason friendlies.

It might be time to cross one name off the list.

Juventus and Fiorentina are close to completing a deal for midfielder Arthur Melo, according to Fabrizio Romano early Saturday. The deal will be structured as an initial season-long loan with Fiorentina holding an option to buy the Brazilian next summer if they so please. Romano adds that Juventus are likely to pick up a decent chunk of Arthur’s hefty salary, one that they are desperate to get off the books as they attempt to cut the roster down over the next few weeks.

As has been widely reported, Arthur is one of the many names currently at Juventus who have been told they are out of the squad and are on the transfer market this summer.

We were first told of Fiorentina’s interest in Arthur — who has also been linked with a move to Wolverhampton recently — a couple of days earlier, with the Brazilian being considered one of a quartet of names that La Viola were looking at, according to Romano.

But, clearly, talks with Juventus have progressed to the point where it looks as though now something would have to go seriously wrong for the deal to fall apart and for Arthur to suddenly head somewhere other than Florence.

After barely playing at all last season, expecting a club to shell out a decent chunk of money for Arthur was probably too much to expect. This was probably always going to be the way when it came to offloading him for the 2023-24 season, with a loan deal with an option to buy serving as a prove-it kind of way to see if he’s actually worth more than just a 10-month stay at his new club.

So now he’s closing in on that chance in Florence. It’s not the ideal situation when you factor in having to kick in some money to cover his salary, but it’s better than the alternative of having him around and being paid millions to do nothing.