The father of a former Liverpool player has taken to Instagram with an emphatic plea to his son, one which has caused a bit of a stir among supporters of his current club.
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Two years after signing Fabio Carvalho from Fulham, the forward is now back in west London after the Reds sold him to Brentford in a £27.5m deal in August.
Alas, things haven’t quite gone to plan for the 22-year-old so far at the Gtech Community Stadium, having scored only twice in 14 appearances and started a mere two Premier League games (Transfermarkt).
Carvalho’s dad lets rip on Instagram
Carvalho had at least featured in every top-flight match for the Bees this season…until his return to Merseyside on Saturday, when he was an unused substitute in their 0-0 draw away to Everton.
When Brentford’s official Instagram account posted the full-time scoreline, the ex-Liverpool forward’s dad Victor took to the comments with some rather blunt career advice: ‘Son, you need to get out [of] that club’.
Carvalho has had an inconsistent career so far
For all the promise that young Carvalho showed in his early weeks at Liverpool in 2022, he never quite kicked on under Jurgen Klopp at Anfield, and it was hard to argue with the tidy sum that the Reds pocketed when selling him to Brentford earlier this year.
That looks like an even more astute piece of business in light of the 22-year-old’s struggles to establish himself in Thomas Frank’s side, and that productive loan spell at Hull City last season (nine goals in 20 games) now seems a lifetime ago.
We’re not quite sure that Fabio will make of his father’s comment on Instagram, although RB Leipzig sporting director Rouven Schroder publicly criticised the player’s application when he was on loan at the Bundesliga club this time last year (that deal was cut short midway through the campaign).
It’s worth noting that then-Tigers boss Liam Rosenior sounded a rather different note about Carvalho’s attitude a few months later, praising the professionalism he showed in gestures such as tidying the team bus and dressing room.
The 22-year-old hasn’t quite had lift-off at Brentford just yet, but so long as he’s doing what’s asked of him by Frank and his coaches, hopefully he’ll rediscover the kind of form which prompted the club to invest such a substantial outlay to sign him.