A few days after being recalled by Liverpool from his abortive loan spell at RB Leipzig, Fabio Carvalho has been publicly questioned by the Bundesliga club’s sporting director over his apparent lack of desire.
The Reds took the decision to end the 21-year-old’s move to Germany prematurely after he struggled for game-time under Marco Rose – he made just three starts and accrued a mere 360 minutes on the pitch (Transfermarkt) – with the attacker securing another loan to Hull City earlier this week.
As per RB Live, Leipzig chief Rouven Schroder shed some light on why his club were content to cancel the youngster’s temporary deal.
He claimed: “We consciously chose Fabio last summer. He had a great season with Fulham in the English second division, which is very physical. We said to ourselves: great talent, good age, has already gained his experience. Still, you only get to know a player as an end product when he’s there.
“Fabio has a great character, but he realised: ‘OK, there’s a competitor here, I have to do more!’, and we noticed that he didn’t want to face the competition.
“We asked ourselves the question: Do we feel more comfortable with another man or are we clear and straight and say ‘Listen, if you don’t want to go with us, then we’ll end the loan. You shouldn’t be afraid to have a break-off’.”
Professional footballers will take most criticism on the chin, especially when it’s constructive; but for a player to have their attitude and desire publicly called out can sting, particularly for someone as young as Carvalho.
While many of Liverpool’s loanees go to clubs operating outside top-flight level, or in the top tier of a ‘lesser’ nation, the 21-year-old joined a team who are playing in the Champions League, so competition for places was bound to be intense.
Obviously we’re not privy to what happens on the training pitch at Leipzig, so we can’t directly challenge Schroder on his criticisms of the youngster, but from a Reds perspective we’d certainly hope that the player wouldn’t go through the motions if he were disenchanted with the battle for a first-team place under Rose.
Whatever may have happened in Germany, at least Carvalho now has the chance to start afresh at Hull, beginning with a Championship clash against Norwich City tonight.
Hopefully the talented attacker can demonstrate that his time at the Red Bull Arena was an aberration rather than a concerning portent of things to come.