00:00 Hi there everybody, Adam Cleary from 442 here and I want to talk today about Fabio Carvalho.
00:10 Because I think when he signed for Liverpool not that very long ago we all thought, blimey,
00:14 what a good bit of business that is. He's technical, he's skilled, he's young, he's
00:19 versatile, he's hungry, he felt like the perfect mix of all the things that a footballer, Jürgen
00:24 Klopp, already really likes and given that Liverpool were about to enter this period
00:28 of tactical transition and change, the kind of player he really needed.
00:32 But now some 12 months in a measly four, counting four Premier League starts,
00:37 they air his off to RB Leipzig and while yes, all the noises from the club are,
00:41 it's just for a bit of game time, honest, most Liverpool fans aren't convinced they're
00:46 ever going to see him play for the club again. So, what went wrong then?
00:50 Well, our very good friends over at This Is Anfield have prepared the following report
00:55 for us and here, with that report, is me.
00:59 When Liverpool completed the signing of Fabio Carvalho, it was viewed as a major coup.
01:06 A deal was initially agreed at the close of the January transfer window in 2022, only for
01:11 EFL red tape to rip up the paperwork and ensure he spent the rest of the season as a Fulham player.
01:16 That was, weirdly, always the plan anyway, with a loan already agreed upon the deal's
01:20 conclusion. But instead Liverpool were left with no concrete guarantees he would then
01:24 eventually join in the summer. But three months later, a £7.7 million transfer was
01:29 waved through and Liverpool successfully fended off interest from Barcelona and others
01:33 to get their man. By May, Carvalho switched to Anfield was official and Jurgen Klopp
01:38 lauded him as "a player who can bring a stadium to its feet".
01:41 "He can play so many different positions for us, the way we play," he explained.
01:45 "At the minute he's not really set on one position, it's the wing, it's the eight,
01:49 it's the ten, it's the false nine if he grows a few more muscles."
01:52 And the glimpses during pre-season were tantalising, with Carvalho dazzling in a left-sided role
01:57 as Liverpool tore apart RB Leipzig in a 5-0 friendly win. But less than a year on,
02:03 the 20-year-old is on his way to Leipzig to spend his second campaign as a Liverpool player
02:08 out on loan. It's pretty clear then that things didn't pan out as either Carvalho
02:12 or Klopp would have hoped, even though there were flashes of that quality throughout the season.
02:16 Back-to-back goals against Bournemouth and Newcastle stood out as highlights,
02:20 with the attacking midfielder featuring prominently in those first four months.
02:24 After that, though, came an almighty drop-off. Between the return from the World Cup
02:29 and the end of the campaign, Carvalho only played five times, with his two starts
02:33 over those six months coming in domestic cups. Klopp, however, remained effusive
02:37 in his praise of Carvalho and sympathetic over his position, though question marks
02:42 were raised over his maturity by Portugal U21s manager Rui Jorge, who was disappointed
02:47 that the player couldn't "pick up the phone" to explain his decision to pull out of contention
02:51 in November. And for all the applause over his efforts in training, the proof was there
02:56 in the lack of game time, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott benefiting instead
03:00 and both establishing themselves in the first team. It quickly became apparent
03:04 that the versatility that made him so unique upon his arrival served as more of a detriment
03:09 than an advantage. Carvalho was trialled in various roles, including as part of the midfield three,
03:15 but the attacking instincts that saw him score 10 goals and assist 8 times in 36 games
03:20 for Fulham needed to be pared back as the defensive discipline took priority.
03:24 But, similar to the player he effectively replaced, the popular but peripheral Takumi Minamino,
03:29 it was clearly not a natural fit for him. And with Liverpool struggling for much of the season,
03:34 it was perhaps no surprise that the manager felt unable to integrate Carvalho into his system
03:39 while he was not fully attuned to his off-ball responsibilities.
03:43 And that isn't to say he can't press, more so that the nuances of Klopp's system were never natural to him.
03:48 And a stark contrast to his situation came with the signing of Cody Gakpo in January.
03:53 A career winger, the Dutchman swiftly slotted into the false nine role Klopp claimed
03:57 could become Carvalho's if he "grows a few more muscles". Gakpo however made the transition
04:02 to Roberto Firmino's job as connector look easy and, standing at 6-4 to Carvalho's 5-7,
04:08 the youngster hardly stands a chance against him in the Premier League.
04:13 21 appearances across the season, of which only 8 came as a starter,
04:17 was clearly not what Carvalho would have wanted, or even expected,
04:21 when he decided to leave the comfort and promise of a promoted Fulham,
04:24 and well, rumblings of discontent began as soon as the season drew to a close.
04:29 Despite alleged interest from elsewhere in the Premier League, including West Ham, Brentford and Burnley,
04:34 he has instead decided to head abroad. At face value, joining Leipzig,
04:38 who finished third in last season's Bundesliga and only five points behind title winners Bayern Munich,
04:43 is a promising move for him. But that Liverpool were unwilling to agree to a sale,
04:48 or even an option to buy in his loan deal, suggests they remain hopeful of his long-term future at Anfield.
04:54 That, or they are at least confident that he could secure a higher fee next summer,
04:58 after his season in the spotlight in Germany.
05:01 Leipzig's permanent offer was reportedly around the 12 million euro mark,
05:04 which was seen as derisory and, well, it's hard to disagree.
05:08 Due to the terms of their agreement with Fulham, which did include a sell-on clause,
05:12 Liverpool would stand to take less than £2 million in profit from a sale at that level.
05:17 And sadly, there are more instances of Liverpool players departing the first team on loan
05:21 and never reclaiming their role than there are to the contrary.
05:24 But Carvalho can still look to the likes of Eliot, Minamino and Divock Origi of examples of it working out.
05:30 If a long-term stay on Merseyside is what he wants, he wouldn't be the first to make it happen.
05:35 Origi's stint at Wolfsburg in 2017/18 did seem likely to pave the way for a permanent departure,
05:41 but he went on to spend the next four seasons in Klopp's senior side,
05:45 scoring, as Liverpool fans will surely remember, some of the most important goals of his reign.
05:50 One in the, er, 2019 Champions League final, for example, being a pretty big deal.
05:55 Circumstances can then change and Carvalho will only turn 21 in August,
05:59 but there is certainly still a chance he emulates Eliot's success at Blackburn
06:03 and returns as a focal part of Liverpool's plans.
06:07 After all, Klopp himself did describe him as both a short-term and a long-term project upon signing him.
06:13 But that so few opportunities did come his way, even after Klopp switched to a 3-4-3 system,
06:18 which, on paper, better suited his qualities, could be damning evidence.
06:22 In theory, the overlapping left-side role that saw Jones thrive as one of two number 10s
06:27 could have been perfect for Carvalho, but the sum total of his exposure in the new box midfield setup
06:32 was a six-minute cameo when Liverpool were already 3-0 up to a struggling Leicester.
06:36 But what was perhaps more noticeable was his muted reaction during their post-match celebrations.
06:42 With the players and the away end enjoying their win, Carvalho instead left his teammates and headed for the tunnel.
06:48 It was only at the behest of his manager that he then turned back around and rejoined the group.
06:53 And while that might be slightly poetic given his current circumstances, when it comes to his overall future at Liverpool,
06:59 it might take more than a hug and a kind word to change his mind.
07:02 A long year awaits then at Leipzig, and in that time his parent club will be hoping they can turn their own fortunes around
07:08 after dropping out of the Champions League places last season.
07:11 The temporary agreement obviously leaves a lot up in the air, but it's hard to escape the feeling
07:16 that both Liverpool and Carvalho will move on without each other in the coming 12 months.
07:21 fields.
07:21 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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