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 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.
