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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

Fabinho’s brother-in-law, Ricardo Assis, has told The Telegraph that PSG, Manchester City, Manchester United and Juventus all spoke to the Brazil international’s agent before he moved to Anfield.

What’s the story?

The 26-year-old signed for the Reds in 2018 for £43.7m from AS Monaco, and has since gone on to make 58 appearances for the club.

However, according to his brother-in-law, it could have been so very different. He said:

“Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, Manchester City and Juventus also talked to his agent, but it was Liverpool that made all the effort to sign him.”

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Vital cog in Liverpool’s machine

There are plenty of talented players in Liverpool’s team. Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane stand out, of course, whilst Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold have also received praise for their contribution from the full-back positions. Fabinho, though, tends to go under the radar.

However, he is a vital cog in the Liverpool machine and he is arguably the Reds’ most important player in the middle of the park. Last season in the Premier League, he averaged 57.5 passes per match, more than any of those in the centre of the park, as well as 2.1 tackles, which again led the way amongst the midfielders.

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This season, he has progressed even more. The £45m-valued man – as per Transfermarkt – still leads the way in both aspects, but now he has 59.6 passes per game and a team-topping 2.4 tackles per match. Not only that, but he has also added key passes to his arsenal – he has 1.2 each game compared to 0.6 last term. The midfielder has also seen his completed long balls go up from 2.6 to 4.4 per match.

Henderson and Wijnaldum are the other two main midfielders and, whilst they do a lot for the team, their overall contribution, both in defence and going forward, cannot match Fabinho’s statistically.

Given how essential he is to the way Jurgen Klopp’s team play, Liverpool can count their lucky stars that he chose them over any of those other European giants.

استقر الجنوب إفريقي بيتسو موسيماني، المدير الفني للفريق الأول لكرة القدم بالنادي الأهلي، بنسبة كبيرة، على التشكيل الذي سيواجه به نظيره صن داونز في ذهاب ربع نهائي دوري أبطال إفريقيا.

وأسفرت قرعة دور ربع نهائي دوري أبطال إفريقيا عن مواجهة بين الأهلي وصن داونز للمرة الثالثة على التوالي، حيث تقابل الفريقان العام الماضي، بنفس الدور، وتأهل المارد الأحمر لنصف النهائي حينها، فيما خسر المارد الأحمر أمام صن داونز بنتيجة 5-1، في مجموع المباراتين، بالنسخة قبل الماضية من الأميرة السمراء.

طالع | تشكيل الأهلي أمام صن داونز.. محمد شريف يقود الهجوم

وتأهل الأهلي إلى دور ربع النهائي عقب احتلاله المركز الثاني في جدول ترتيب المجموعة الأولى بالبطولة الإفريقية برصيد 11 نقطة، فيما احتل صن داونز صدارة المجموعة الثانية برصيد 13 نقطة.

ويلتقي الأهلي مع صن داونز مساء اليوم السبت على استاد الأهلي ‏we السلام، في ذهاب دور ربع نهائي دوري أبطال إفريقيا، على أن تُقام مباراة العودة يوم 22 من ‏الشهر الجاري في جنوب إفريقيا.‏

طالع أيضا.. خاص | إصابة لاعب الأهلي قبل مباراة صن داونز تشكيل الأهلي المتوقع لمباراة صن داونز في دوري أبطال إفريقيا

في حراسة المرمى: محمد الشناوي.

خط الدفاع: محمد هاني، بدر بانون، رامي ربيعة، أيمن أشرف.

خط الوسط: أليو ديانج، عمرو السولية، محمد مجدي أفشة، حسين الشحات، طاهر محمد طاهر.

خط الهجوم: محمد شريف.

Some Tottenham fans have taken to Twitter to express their dissatisfaction at how late in the game Mauricio Pochettino decided to substitute Giovani Lo Celso and Lucas Moura onto the field against Liverpool.

After taking an early lead through Harry Kane, Spurs allowed Jordan Henderson and Mohamed Salah to strike in the second half to help Liverpool record a 2-1 win.

In a somewhat delayed response to Salah’s 75th minute spot-kick, Pochettino decided to introduce Lucas in the 84th minute before bringing summer signing Lo Celso into the game four minutes later.

Unsurprisingly, that did not give the duo enough time to make an impact on proceedings, and did seem like a particularly baffling thing to do from Pochettino.

One supporter below said that the former Southampton manager’s tactical move proves that he has lost the plot, whereas another fan said the late switches made “zero sense”.

Let’s take a look at some more of the Twitter reaction…

QPR and Ryan Manning continued their fine form on Saturday afternoon as the Rs defeated Hull 3-2.

Mark Warburton’s men have been in the goals of late and now have seven in their last two outings as they showed no signs of slowing down after the international break.

Eberechi Eze was on the scoresheet twice but as was Manning, who added to the assist he claimed against Blackburn two weeks ago.

The left-back put in a convincing display which left many fans absolutely delighted with him.

One supporter suggested he was showing shades of Brazilian legend Ronaldinho while another individual labelled him the best in his position in the Championship.

A fellow QPR fan said she was in love with the defender as he was also described as cool as ice.

Manning has been ever-present for the Londoners this season but this weekend marked his first goal of the term. He’s claimed three assists to date as well.

The 23-year-old has caught the eye of the Premier League in 2019/20 with Newcastle reportedly in the race to snap him up.

Here’s what fans were saying about him yesterday.

According to The Daily Mail, Tottenham Hotspur are open to offers for five players – including Eric Dier – during the January transfer window, but plenty of Spurs fans want him to stay.

The Daily Mail says that the England international, along with Danny Rose, Serge Aurier, Christian Eriksen and Victor Wanyama, can go if the price is right, as Mauricio Pochettino plans a New Year shake-up of his squad.

The 25-year-old has certainly found first-team minutes hard to come by under the Argentine this term despite being fully fit, with his first Premier League start of the campaign not coming until the 3-0 defeat against Brighton and Hove Albion earlier this month.

Dier has played 214 minutes in total across all competitions, although 90 of those came in the EFL Cup humiliation against League Two Colchester United.

Nevertheless, Tottenham supporters don’t appear keen to lose the former Sporting Lisbon anytime soon, with one describing him as “so underrated”, and another saying “Dier would be the only one I’d like to keep”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Off the Bench series, which places in-game managerial decisions and squad selections under FFC’s microscope.

After suffering the humiliation of losing 7-2 to Bayern Munich in mid-week, Tottenham’s woes were compounded when they fell to a 3-0 defeat to Brighton in the Premier League.

Snapshot

Mauricio Pochettino’s side suffered their biggest defeat under the Argentine’s management on Tuesday night, and they would undoubtedly have been hoping for some kind of positive reaction against the Seagulls on Saturday.

But a howler from Hugo Lloris allowed Neal Maupay to open the scoring for the home side after just a few minutes, before a brace from Aaron Connolly sealed a comfortable victory for Graham Potter’s men.

The indoor football skills in the video below have to be seen to be believed…

Pochettino has come under criticism in recent weeks, and his decision to take off Tanguy Ndombele at half-time certainly appeared to be eyebrow-raising to say the least.

Off the bench

Whilst the summer signing may not have set the world alight in north London since arriving in a big-money deal from Lyon, he represents one of the more offensive midfielders in the side. The Frenchman has averaged an impressive 1.5 successful dribbles per game this season, and it’s that directness from deep that can often change the tempo of an attack.

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And yet, despite trailing 2-0 at the break, Pochettino decided to take off the 22-year-old for Harry Winks. Whilst the latter came on to provide some more thrust, surely the more logical choice would have been to substitute Eric Dier, a specialist holding midfielder?

Instead, Dier continued to look all at sea in a rare Premier League appearance, completing just 74% of his passes, and losing possession 15 times over the course of the game. When you need to score at least two goals to earn a result, doesn’t it make more sense to take off the more defensively-minded player, instead of the one whose main strength is to drive forward?

In the end, Spurs didn’t look at all likely in making their way back into the match. But Pochettino’s half-time decision spoke of just how out of touch the Argentine appears to be at the moment.

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The Champions League is back this week, and one club who will want to get off to a good start is Tottenham Hotspur.

Spurs got through their group by the skin of their teeth last time around, and they will want to have a much more comfortable route into the knockout stages this year.

And if this Instagram post by Moussa Sissoko is anything to go by, then the Lilywhites are planning to show a lot more focus in the early matches this campaign.

Sissoko hosted a Q&A on his Instagram account on Sunday, and of course, one fan asked if he was ready for the Champions League.

The French midfielder ensured his followers that the whole squad are ready to take Europe by storm.

Hopefully, this means that Spurs can go one better than last term as they heartbreakingly lost in the final to Liverpool after a heroic performance against Ajax in the semi-finals.

The Reds did it after losing in the final the previous year, so why not Spurs?

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Following an injury that saw him out of action for Manchester United’s 1-0 victory over Leicester City at the weekend, Paul Pogba looks like he could be back in action if his latest Instagram story is anything to go by.

Despite a tendency to go missing when the club needs him the most, the Frenchman remains one of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s only world-class options in his current squad.

And as we well know from the flurry of form he enjoyed following Jose Mourinho’s exit last December, which saw him claim an incredible seven goals and five assists in ten appearances, United’s success tends to coincide with his own.

The Red Devils won eight and drew two during Pogba’s most profitable ten-game stint last season.

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As it stands, United will have to field defensive anchor (in more ways than one) Nemanja Matic in Pogba’s stead until he makes a full recovery, which somewhat dampens creative capacity. That is until Pogba is fully loaded, anyway…

The fact that he has his boots back on is surely good news for fans, as it looks like he may be nearing a full return.

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Leeds dropped their first points of the season against Nottingham Forest at the weekend as they drew 1-1, conceding a sloppy goal but also being denied a penalty.

Adam Forshaw was the one who started alongside Mateusz Klich in a creative role but his display left a host of fans bewildered after someone posed the question of why everything seemed to be his fault.

The midfielder has already taken flack on Twitter after having his say ahead of their opening clash a week previous.

Yet, he’s now been the subject of more discussion. One fan claimed that he was this year’s whipping boy whilst another said they couldn’t get their head around the fact he was being targeted because he’s a solid player.

The 27-year-old went down theatrically in the penalty area in the first half, being denied a spot-kick as one supporter described him as someone who puts the team in danger. Others were more kind as one said he was in their top three to four players from the day’s game.

Per WhoScored, Forshaw finished the match with a pass success of 87%, winning three aerial duels. However, he failed to make a single key pass.

Here’s what Leeds fans have been saying.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

Newcastle starlet Elias Sorensen has joined Carlisle on loan, but the Magpies are playing a very risky game by allowing the 19 year-old to leave.

What’s the story?

Sorensen has joined Carlisle United on a season-long loan, the club confirmed on Friday.

The teenager joins the League Two outfit having slammed in 20 goals for the Magpies’ U23 side last season.

He played well in pre-season, featuring in friendlies against Wolves and West Ham.

Big risk

It’s all very well and good sending a young striker out to gain first-team experience, and we will soon find out if he can take his scoring talents from the youth game into senior football.

However, Steve Bruce opted for two up front in a 3-5-2 against Arsenal, as he seems to favour a traditional striking partnership.

This means that with Sorensen leaving, Dwight Gayle and Andy Carroll are the only back-ups, with Yoshinori Muto more of a versatile forward or number ten than out-and-out striker.

Carroll is out for another four or five weeks, says Bruce, while Dwight Gayle has never performed well in the top-flight and is yet to prove that he can, despite impressing in the Championship.

Then you have the fact that Miguel Almiron, who partnered Joelinton last weekend, isn’t even a striker himself but more of a winger, with Transfermarkt claiming he has only started at centre-forward once in his career.

Finally, Joelinton is new to the league and scored just seven times in the Bundesliga last season, so there’s really no telling how well the young Brazilian will adjust in his new surroundings.

So, the Magpies now have an injury-prone Carroll, a Championship player, a winger and an unproven talent as their only striking options, despite seemingly wanting to deploy two up front.

Allowing Sorensen, who let’s not forget bagged 20 goals last term, to leave seems like a disaster waiting to happen, potentially leaving the manager very short of genuine goalscoring threats.

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