Brazilian starlet Arthur, has revealed two star players he held talks with before deciding to choose to move to the Barcelona this summer.
Barcelona announced that they have agreed a deal in principle to sign Arthur when the transfer window reopens.
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And unsurprisingly, current midfielder Philippe Coutinho played an instrumental role in convincing him to join the Camp Nou.
However former Barca forward Neymar, who was said to have asked for a move back to the La Liga side following his controversial world record move to PSG, also helped the 21-year-old in deciding to join his old club.
“When the stories started coming out about Barça’s rumoured interest, I had a short conversation with Neymar with the national team,” Arthur said.
“I asked him about Barcelona and he only had praise for the club and the city. He recommended Barcelona to me.”
On speaking to Coutinho, Arthur added: “After I spoke with Philippe Coutinho on Instagram, who agreed with everything Neymar said.
“He said that that city is wonderful and it’s an excellent club to work at.”
[BREAKING NEWS] Agreement for Arthur transfer. https://t.co/KZWyOoVj52
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 11, 2018
Arthur, a gifted 21-year-old midfielder, has long been regarded as a prodigal talent in South American football.
Arthur recently helped Gremio to their first Copa Libertadores title since 1995.
His impressive performance was rewarded with the midfielder claiming the man of the match honours during the competition’s final second-leg versus Argentine outfit Lanus.
Arthur was linked with a number of Europe’s top sides, with Chelsea, Manchester United, Atletico Madrid also said to be interested, however he opted to play for Barcelona.