Report: Arthur’s willingness to leave Barca might not be changing after all

We’ve got more Melo drama growing at Juventus.

But this time it’s not with Felipe Melo popping off after hearing about what Giorgio Chiellini said in his recently released autobiography. Nope, not even close. This time it has to do with Arthur Melo — that first Melo actually mentioned in Juventus circles in years and only because he’s subject to many of the transfer rumors involving Miralem Pjanic these days.

Where are we going with this?

May 25: Tuttosport reported that Arthur might be coming around to the whole “leave Barcelona to sign with Juventus” thing after weeks of assuming he wasn’t going to leave.

May 30: Spanish outlet AS reports that while Arthur’s future at Barcelona is anything but certain, the 23-year-old Brazilian maintains that he doesn’t want to leave the Camp Nou. They refer to his situation as one that is “still open to change,” with other rumors — namely one from Tuttosport on Saturday that says Juve might be looking at alternative players besides Arthur — starting to circulate as not much major progress seems to be made when it comes to Arthur actually looking like he might accept a deal.

“We are not ruling anything out,” a source inside Barcelona is quoted as saying in the AS article. ”We’ll see what he thinks in the summer.” AS adds that Arthur “is still on the table when it comes to potential future moves.”

But what makes us think that Arthur is still very much not interested in leaving? Because they have Arthur saying so himself, with a statement from the Brazilian himself that was published earlier in the week. It says:

“There is always going to be speculation but the truth is my idea is very clear - the only option that interests me is continuing at Barcelona, I feel comfortable and calm where I am. I am very happy here and I am very grateful to the club and the coaching staff for the faith they have in me. That is another motive for me to be totally sure about my desire to stay at the club.

“The supposed interest from other, big clubs is very flattering for any player and also a positive sign but in mind, I’m only thinking about playing here for many years to come.

“Barça is the club where I have always wanted to be and I want to remain an azulgrana for a long time - above all other options. I feel more and more comfortable with each day that passes - with the team, at the club and in the city. I also love the people and the culture here and I really feel the support of the fans.

I’m 100% focused on the job I have to do and looking forward to getting back playing again as soon as possible because I really want to continue growing as a player here and battling for more trophies with Barca.”

(Source: AS)

Now, to hear it from the player himself just has a different kind of weight to it, right? There are some things that you would expect him to say. The proper stuff about he’s focused on the restart of the season and how he’s looking forward to playing again now that La Liga is about to get up and running.

And while over in these parts of the footballing world we’re not too familiar with Arthur and what he has to say, we’ll just have to take him at his word unless we are proven otherwise.