Fabinho has confirmed that Liverpool are toying with the idea of encouraging the Brazilian international and his compatriot, Alisson Becker, to fly over to Spain rather than return directly to Merseyside.
The Independent had previously suggested that the Anfield-based outfit could explore the option in order to potentially overcome the UK’s quarantine requirements and have the pair available for our Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid.
“We will also need to quarantine, but the club is still studying whether it is better to go straight to Spain to play Atletico and quarantine there, without staying in a hotel in England,” the Brazilian told journalists (via the Echo).
As things stand, it seems far from likely that we’d be able to get the South American duo back and rested in time for our meeting with Watford.
At this point, it seems to make a lot more sense just to prioritise our upcoming clash with Diego Simeone’s men – as far as Alisson and Fabinho are concerned – rather than risk further complications resulting from the international break.
It means we’ll likely need to call upon Caoimhin Kelleher to deputise between the sticks for our first-choice No.1, not to mention encouraging skipper Jordan Henderson to fill out in our No.3’s boots.
Given Curtis Jones and Naby Keita’s promising recent performances, however – not forgetting our Irish shotstopper’s quality either – Jurgen Klopp should still have enough in the way of options to take with him to Vicarage Road.