'Fear took over' for Arthur Melo at Liverpool

Arthur Melo suffered psychologically at Liverpool during his ill-fated loan spell at the club last season, according to the midfielder's physiotherapist.

The Brazilian joined the Reds on a season-long loan deal from Juventus on Deadline Day of the 2022 summer transfer window. However, his temporary switch did not go to plan.

Arthur played just 13 minutes of football for Liverpool all season – in a sole sub appearance in the 4-1 Champions League defeat to Napoli – as he suffered badly with injuries.

Unsurprisingly, Liverpool did not take up the option to buy Arthur at the end of the campaign, with the former Barcelona midfielder returning to Juventus, before going out on loan again to Fiorentina.

The 27-year-old has fared better back in Italy, and he has featured in all 18 of Fiorentina's Serie A games so far in 2023/24, with La Viola performing well in fourth place.

In an interview with Corriere dello Sport, Arthur's physiotherapist Adrian Martinez Castro discussed what went wrong for his client at Anfield – revealing how 'fear' played a factor in his failure to launch.

He is quoted as saying: "When he injured his quadriceps at Liverpool, fear took over, something unusual for him. That stop affected him because he feared, once he recovered, that he might hurt himself again. Water under the bridge, though. Now there is only Fiorentina."

Despite his struggles, Arthur has been publicly complimentary of his time in England.

"Liverpool has surprised me a lot. The fans are incredible, but within the club everything is in Klopp’s image," Arthur said back in September.

"It's a family. There is always someone who wants to help others, from the first worker to the president.

"As a coach, he [Klopp] is fantastic, whether on the field or off, the person and character come into play. And with all that, how he manages the team is impressive. I only have nice things to say about him."

Meanwhile on his injury struggles he added: "I was really looking forward to playing in a different championship. Everything was going very well in a great team, but in training I got an injury… It was hard, mentally very hard, but you also learn. Now I look back and get something productive out of the injury.

"I started to work on the mental part, nutrition, rest and sleep. It was bad luck, but it belongs to the past now."