Our view: Struggling Liverpool star is about to face his potential £45m replacement

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Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool will host Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid in the Champions League – will Thomas Partey outshine Fabinho?

There was one moment, midway through the second half of Liverpool’s fortunate 2-1 victory over Bournemouth on Saturday, which summed up how things have gone for Fabinho since the turn of the year.

The usually brilliant Brazilian first fired an aimless pass into midfield, gifting the ball back to the opposition. Seconds later, he was spun and beaten by a wriggling Callum Wilson as Eddie Howe’s visitors raced through on goal, failing miserably to put out a fire of his own making.

Thankfully, James Milner was a little more switched on than his Anfield teammate, clearing Ryan Fraser’s goal-bound effort off the goal-line. The Yorkshireman had rescued the star from Sao Paulo.

In truth, this was just the latest in a series of below-par displays from Fabinho. The once irrepressible barrier in front of Jurgen Klopp’s defence has been a hulking, lumbering shadow of his former self since a recent spell on the sidelines through injury.

Fabinho was all at sea against West Ham and Watford and, just last week, this 6ft 2ins man mountain was left red-faced by Chelsea’s teenage scamp Billy Gilmour. He even looked out of his depth in the 2-2 FA Cup draw against third-tier Shrewsbury Town.

Partey time over for Fabinho?

With CadenaSer reporting that Liverpool are weighing up a summer swoop for Thomas Partey – the Atletico Madrid maestro with a very affordable £45 million release clause – Fabinho is under pressure to find form and fast. Especially as he is set to go head-to-head with none other than Partey himself during Wednesday’s crucial Champions League clash at Anfield.

With an 85 per cent pass completion rate compared to Partey’s 83 per cent, not to mention more successful tackles, key passes and victorious aerial duels per 90 minutes, Fabinho continues to outshine his midfield rival from a statistical perspective.

But if Partey dominated Fabinho at Anfield tomorrow night, those numbers will count for very little. Klopp may look all bear hugs and toothy grins but, behind closed doors, the German is a ruthless operator.

If he feels Fabinho has let his standards slip, Klopp is unlikely to stand back and let an already worrying situation escalate further.