For all the talk around the disappointment of Roberto Firmino missing out on a place in Brazil's World Cup squad, there was another Selecao hopeful whose dreams were dashed much earlier in Liverpool's season.
One of the motivating factors behind Arthur Melo's decision to move to Merseyside on transfer deadline day was the idea that he could eventually force himself back into the thinking of Brazil's head coach Tite in time for the Qatar World Cup.
Having not played for the national team since a 13-minute cameo off the bench against Bolivia in March, Arthur's plan had been to kick-start a flailing career under Jurgen Klopp's tutelage with the possibility of eventually making the cut for the Selecao.
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The late move for Arthur was an opportunistic one from Liverpool's point of view and one hatched out of sheer necessity as the midfield injury crisis continued to bite down hard on Klopp's squad in the early weeks of the season.
Having withdrawn Jordan Henderson with a hamstring injury in the 2-1 win over Newcastle on August 31, it was well after midnight when a plan was hastily cobbled together to try and bring in Arthur from Juventus.
Having kept their powder dry when it became clear that Aurelien Tchouameni only had eyes for Real Madrid - a prospect that was known to Liverpool as far back as April - Klopp, sporting director Julian Ward and FSG president Mike Gordon were finally forced to concede that a stop-gap emergency option must be sourced after Henderson had added to absentees that also included Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones and Thiago Alcantara at the time.
Two-and-a-half months into his season-long Liverpool tenure and there are serious concerns that Arthur will never play for the club again. A 13-minute substitute appearance in the dismal 4-1 loss at Napoli in September is the sum of his efforts for the Reds to date.
A thigh injury, picked up in early October, left Arthur needing surgery and the projected timescale of absence was initially slated at somewhere between three and four months.
In an Instagram post at the time, Arthur wrote : "Last week was not the best for me…Sadly, as you know, an unfortunate injury to my left thigh will keep me out of action for a while.
"It comes just at a time when, after huge effort and lots of hard work, I was ready to establish myself in my new team and determined to fight for my dream of playing at the World Cup.
"It is now time for me to keep my head up and join forces with my family and do everything I need to with my team to make sure I come back stronger as soon as possible. No obstacle will prevent me from progressing in my career and I have great ambition to show what I can do on the pitch."
It's quite the irony of Liverpool's campaign that the man signed to help ease a crippling injury crisis has only ended up adding to it, but for the club's perspective, it was always a risky strategy to place so much trust in a player who hadn't featured since May and was behind his team-mates' fitness levels by around a month upon his arrival.
Attitude was not a problem for the 26-year-old, it must be stressed. A willingness to build up fitness through participation for the Under-23s team was evident during his brief period of availability, while he also waved away scheduled days off in favour of training and employed physios and nutritionists to help him get up to speed quicker.
Sadly, though, the last-gasp gamble was one that fell flat for Liverpool. And while the issues in midfield are not as grave as they were when Arthur arrived in the final hours of the summer window, the long-term problems have not really abated for Klopp where his engine room is concerned.
Klopp was typically vague when asked about plans for January after Saturday's 3-1 win over Southampton at Anfield. The manager admitted back in August that he "would be ready to risk a bit more" when it came to player trading but was non-committal when discussing potential plans for the winter window.
“We are always open to these kinds of things but we don’t have to open this discussion now," Klopp said on Saturday. "If there is something possible, we will do it. If a door opens, we are open as well.
“It is not about wanting or whatever. Of course, we want to improve the team all the time, we just believe in the training ground as well and that we can do it there. We will see what happens.”
It will be interesting to see what kind of business Liverpool are able to execute at a time when owners FSG are looking elsewhere for fresh investment or even a potential full sale of the club, but the failed Arthur experiment should at least make them think twice about a repeat of that short-term improvisation.
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