Liverpool’s Fabinho could have joined PSG or Juventus, says his brother-in-law

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.