Arthur Melo Insists He Regrets Refusing to Play for Barcelona
By Ali Rampling
Arthur Melo admits he regrets refusing to play for Barcelona towards the end of the 2019/20 campaign after securing a move to Juventus.
Arthur agreed to join the Serie A side in a €72m deal in June, with Miralem Pjanic moving in the opposite direction for a fee of €60m.
The Brazilian midfielder remained a Barcelona player until September, but refused to join up with his teammates to see out their Champions League campaign amid reports he had been sold to Juventus against his will.
Given the chance again, Arthur admitted he would have behaved differently - but insists the decision to move to Juventus was his choice.
"I decided with my family what was best for me," Arthur told Brazilian news outlet Globo. "I made my choice, the choice was mine. Nobody forced me to do anything.
"I am very happy with the choice I made, my family is also very happy. And I have to thank Barcelona, because they opened the doors to Europe for me. I have a lot of affection for the club too.
"If I could change some things, I think it would, yes. I am not ashamed to say that I think I may have been wrong in that regard.
"But it is very difficult to judge, because no one knows what I was experiencing, what my family was experiencing. It went much further than the field. There was a lot going on. But they are things that happen in life and you have to learn."
Arthur's refusal to play meant he was absent for Barcelona's infamous 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter finals, but admitted the loss was still difficult to take.
"It is hard," the 24-year-old added. "Because as much as I was already sold, as much as I was not on the pitch, but at that moment I still represented Barcelona, like it or not. I wanted to win like everyone else on the field. Even more knowing the group, knowing that we didn't deserve that 8-2 defeat."