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According to L’Equipe, Paris Saint-Germain are set to use Liverpool’s visit in the Champions League on Wednesday to enquire about the availability of Fabinho, but the Brazilian midfielder could be the perfect player for Jurgen Klopp to deploy to open up the French champions.
On the chalkboard
Liverpool strolled to a 3-0 win over Watford on Saturday, despite failing to break the deadlock until the 67th minute and having Jordan Henderson sent off for two bookable offences.
However, although the Reds controlled the game, there were a number of passages of play where attacks were slowed down by either Gini Wijnaldum or Henderson playing a sideways or backwards pass instead of looking forwards.
This is not usually the case in Klopp teams, and in previous seasons Liverpool have counter-attacked with pace and purpose, something that makes them extremely dangerous against the top teams that try to play on the front-foot and helped them reach the Champions League final last season.
Purposeful passing
Presumably, Fabinho has been linked with moves away as Klopp has taken his time to integrate him into the team slowly. The 25-year-old arrived from Monaco in the summer and we saw with Chelsea’s acquisition of Tiemoue Bakayoko, who had a torrid time at Stamford Bridge last season, that it is difficult to adapt straight away from the slower Ligue 1.
However, whenever Fabinho has played for the Merseyside club he has looked like the ideal defensive midfielder. Not only does he cover ground well and make an obscene amount of tackles, but he is also impressive on the ball.
The Brazilian’s first thought when receiving the ball in midfield always seems to be to play forward. His passing is then pacy and purposeful and he will often provide the dangerous front-three with quality early service. If Klopp does pick Fabinho to start against his reported admirers then it could be him who creates the most problems on the counter.
If you haven’t seen Patrice Evra’s bizarre new Instagram post then you need to check out the video below…