With Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mo Salah copping plenty of stick during Liverpool’s slowest start to a Premier League season in the Jurgen Klopp era, the form of Fabinho was threatening to fly somewhat under the radar.
That was, of course, until the Brazilian’s flaws were exposed for all to see during Saturday’s televised defeat to bottom-of-the-table Nottingham Forest at a bouncing City Ground.
Not for the first time this season, Liverpool’s £40 million man-mountain – a load-bearing pillar in the house Klopp built – looked a shadow of his once irrepressible self; struggling to cope with the intensity of Steve Cooper’s increasingly well-drilled and hard-to-beat Forest side.
“Liverpool were awful. What is going on with Fabinho?” Jamie Carragher asked on Twitter, his bemusement shared by most who has spent the last three or so years watching the former Monaco enforcer set the tone with his telescopic tackles and line-breaking passes.
“Fabinho’s legs have gone,” added Gabby Agbonlahor, the former Aston Villa captain speaking to talkSPORT. “His idea of a sprint is like a walk at the moment.”
Fabinho out, Florentino Luis in at Liverpool?
If that dismal defeat at Forest was not the wake-up call Fabinho needs, reports linking Liverpool with a move for Benfica’s Florentino Luis should act like a metaphorical slap around the face. An almighty kick-up the backside; Jurgen Klopp the Father Ted to Fabinho’s Bishop Brennan.
Florentino is, after all, a deep-lying, ball-winning, tempo-setting number six in the Fabinho mould. He’s just 23, and in the form of his life for a still unbeaten-Benfica. With Portuguese publications Record and O Jogo both reporting Liverpool’s interest, is Klopp about to replace an ageing, tired-looking midfielder with a younger model?
“Florentino is a young player who has exceptional talent,” former Benfica coach Joao Tralhao told Bernabeu Digital of the one-time Leeds United and Southampton target.
“From very early on, we realised that Florentino was on the road to becoming an elite player. I see Florentino as a logical option (for Real Madrid). He has a profile very similar to that of Casemiro. And in Europe he is, without a doubt, one of the best in his position.”
Florentino, six years Fabinho’s junior, currently averages far more tackles and interceptions per game than Liverpool’s number three. He has 2.7 tackles and 2.6 interceptions per 90 mins, compared to Fabinho’s 1.7 and 0.8. His 90 per cent pass completion rate is also a damn-sight higher.
The very best clubs tend to fix the roof while the sun is still shining. It might be too late for that at Liverpool – with the dark clouds amassing overhead. But it’s still not too late for the rebuild to begin.
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