Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu confirms the club is taking action against Arthur Melo for his ‘unacceptable’ refusal to play, while he’ll ‘earn triple’ his current salary at Juventus.

The two clubs completed the transfer last month, with Arthur signing on to Juve in exchange for Miralem Pjanic and €10m in cash, but the Brazilian was furious at feeling pushed out of Camp Nou.

“We had wanted to renew Arthur’s contract, but the economic situation is complicated,” Bartomeu told Spanish newspaper Sport.

Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu confirms the club is taking action against Arthur Melo for his ‘unacceptable’ refusal to play, while he’ll ‘earn triple’ his current salary at Juventus.

The two clubs completed the transfer last month, with Arthur signing on to Juve in exchange for Miralem Pjanic and €10m in cash, but the Brazilian was furious at feeling pushed out of Camp Nou.

“We had wanted to renew Arthur’s contract, but the economic situation is complicated,” Bartomeu told Spanish newspaper Sport.

“Besides, Arthur had this good offer from another club, who had Pjanic, and the Bosnian is a player we have been interested in for a long time. The decision to leave Barcelona was therefore with Arthur, who was unable to make himself an indispensable player here.

“Juve are offering him first team football, but above all he will earn triple his current salary, as the fiscal situation in Italy is very advantageous.”

Nonetheless, Arthur is still angry with Barcelona and refusing to attend training after the end of the Liga season, so will not participate in the Champions League.

“We had an agreement with him that he’d play with Barcelona until the end of the season. He is an important player and could help us, but he didn’t turn up. This is unacceptable behaviour, so we have decided to take action against him.

“We must analyse what happened and try to understand the causes. We’ll ask the player what his motivations were, but there will certainly be sanctions.

“If a worker does not work, he doesn’t get paid. He also showed an unacceptable lack of respect towards his teammates and the club. It’s unjustifiable.”

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