Liverpool fans were treated to an extremely brief cameo from Fabio Carvalho in the 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu with the player generally struggling for minutes under Jurgen Klopp in his debut season at Anfield.
Commenting on the matter, James Pearce noted that the player’s contributions off the ball could explain his current lack of game time.
“He’s played just two mins of PL football since the World Cup and fallen a long way down the pecking order. I asked Klopp about him a few months back and he was adamant he had been training hard, just a case of a young player having a dip,” the reporter responded in a fan Q&A for The Athletic.
“I think you’re right about tactical systems. You either play him left of the front three (but Klopp has favoured Nunez, Jota or Gakpo there plus now Diaz is fit) or you play him left of a midfield three, but I’m not sure his work off the ball is good enough there.
“Unless there’s a change of heart from Klopp, difficult to see him getting much game time in the coming weeks.”
The versatile midfielder has only registered 722 minutes this term in what has been a strange season for the three-goal star.
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At 20 years of age, there isn’t necessarily a need to panic or suggest that we’ve wasted funds on the former Fulham man.
A loan spell may perhaps be the solution to ensure we’re not harming the development of a talent that had set the Championship alight in 2021/22, though we’ve still high hopes for a player in possession of an abundance of technical ability.
Perhaps Marco Silva’s Fulham might consider the temporary return of one the key men behind their promotion push last year?