Arthur has left Liverpool after a frustrating season-long loan, and the Brazilian is not expected to stay at Juventus long after his return.
Juventus will consider the deal they struck with Liverpool on deadline day in September as excellent business.
While the Reds unsurprisingly opted not to trigger their option to buy the 26-year-old for £32 million, they still paid the Turin club a £3.9 million loan fee.
Of course, there has long been controversy over the figures behind Arthur’s switch to Juventus from Barcelona, which served as part of an investigation which saw the club handed a points deduction for falsifying their accounts.
But on a basic level, the midfielder heads back to his parent club facing an uncertain future – and almost definitely another transfer.
“We will probably have to find another solution for him, because he is not in [Max] Allegri’s tactical plans,” Arthur’s agent, Federico Pastorello, told Sky Sport Italia.
“We must work to find a solution. The injury kept him out for four months and he didn’t have much room.”
Calf surgery in October hampered Arthur’s momentum but, in reality, it was never likely that he would stay at Anfield beyond his loan spell.
Brought in as emergency cover in midfield due to a heightening injury crisis, there were question marks over how he fit into Jurgen Klopp‘s system.
Perhaps most similar to Thiago, Arthur only featured for 13 minutes, serving as apt cover for a player who was himself often on the treatment table.
The last time Arthur clocked more than 2,000 minutes in a season was in 2018/19 at Barcelona, and last time he averaged more than an hour on the pitch per outing was with Gremio in 2016/17.
Even during his time at Liverpool there was speculation over a move back to Brazil, with Palmeiras mooted as a possible destination.
Whether he decides to return to South America or not remains to be seen, but a wasted campaign on Merseyside has clearly not boosted his stock in Europe.
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