New Juventus signing Arthur Melo has been reportedly charged by police with a drink driving offence after crashing his Ferrari in Palafrugell. The Brazilian was reportedly arrested by police at 4 a.m. on Monday morning in the Catalonian town when driving his car on the pavement.
Thankfully, no one else was involved in the incident and no injuries were sustained, but the player’s car was damaged. Arthur was charged on the spot but was allowed to leave however he could be summoned to court at a later date. The player is scheduled to leave Barcelona in the coming weeks and move to Turin around the end of August, ahead of pre-season training under new coach Andrea Pirlo.
The ex-Gremio man could now face a hefty fine or the possibility of having his driving license revoked.” It’s more bad news for Arthur who is also facing disciplinary action from the Catalan giants for failing to return to training after he claimed that was forced out of the club against his will and therefore did not need to come back.
Given that he still remains under contract at Barcelona, Arthur will likely face further correctional proceedings as a result of this incident, adding to the investigation into why he refused to return to training. Those proceedings could end up delaying Arthur’s move to Juventus even more. The Italian champions want him to be released immediately, but Barcelona are reluctant to let him go without penalizing him for his original actions, and this may only lengthen things.
Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu described the Brazilian’s actions as a “lack of respect” towards the club. “What Arthur’s done is a lack of respect towards his teammates because the team is desperate to do well in the Champions League, as is the club. It’s not normal that, with such a big trophy on the line, a player decides to remove himself from the selection. It’s unjustifiable and completely incomprehensible.
We reached a consensus for him to continue with Barça until the end of the Champions League. He’s a valuable player that could help us. But he didn’t come back after a mini-break. It’s an unacceptable act of indiscipline. And for that reason, we have opened disciplinary proceedings because there’s no argument to justify his absence. He called and he said: ‘I won’t come back, I am staying in Brazil.’ It’s his decision. No one gave him permission.”
