Jurgen Klopp revealed that the signing of Fabinho in 2018 was helped in part by the club’s current and former Brazilian players, with Bobby Firmino and ex-Red, Philippe Coutinho, both singing Liverpool’s praises.
The German had signed the midfielder from Monaco in Ligue 1, after our heartbreaking experience in the Champions League final in Kyiv, two years ago.
“I think the best help was probably Bobby as they knew each other from the national team and for sure what Phil said about Liverpool because he loved and still loves Liverpool, so these kinds of things helped,” Klopp said, as reported by the Echo. “His challenging skills are just outstanding defensively and football wise he’s good in small spaces, so it makes sense to play him in centre-midfield but he can play centre-half and we knew that.”
While the exact nature of Coutinho’s departure from Liverpool left more than just a bitter taste in fans’ mouths, it’s always pleasing to hear about how fondly the club is spoken of by former players.
Though the cultured midfielder put Liverpool in a difficult position mid-season in 2018, after forcing a £142m move to Barcelona, the money clearly allowed us to go big with Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker – two signings that transformed this side.
Fabinho too, it would seem, is yet another example of how the Barca man has helped the Reds amass our Premier League and Champions League-winning team.
The No.6 has been absolutely imperious this term whilst filling out at the back for van Dijk – perhaps the biggest compliment that could be paid to the 27-year-old is that we’ve not looked defensively shaky in the Dutchman’s absence when the Brazilian has started.
We imagine we’ll see Fabinho in Liverpool’s backline once more this afternoon, with hopefully another colossal performance.