Speaking on the Transfer Window Podcast, Duncan Castles has shared what he’s heard about Fabio Carvalho and his failed move to Liverpool.
Fulham had accepted a bid from Liverpool on deadline day for Carvalho, and it looked as though a deal would be done in the final hours of the window.
However, unfortunately for the Reds, a deal fell through and Carvalho remains a Fulham player.
Castles says there have been conflicting reports about why the deal fell through.
What’s been said about Carvalho?
The journalist shared what he’s heard.
“There are mixed messages about this one. What is clear is that they only agreed a transfer fee with Fulham on deadline day. Fulham say that fee was worth £8m to them with a sell-on clause and Carvalho being loaned back until the end of the season. That was acceptable to them as Carvalho is out of contract in the summer,” Castles said.
“One version of events that I’ve heard is that Carvalho passed a medical on Monday night and then had cold feet about signing the contract. He had reservations about Liverpool being the right place for him to go, and he held out long enough that the deal fell through. Why did the deal fall through? Because Liverpool left it late to get official permission to speak to Fabio Carvalho. He had to do his medical rapidly, they had to agree the contract and then they had to do the paperwork to get him back on loan to Fulham, and unlike Premier League transfers, with Football League transfers there’s no deal sheet, there’s no ability to extend the deadline for a couple of hours when you have an agreement in place, so everything had to be done by 11PM.
“The other version of events is that it was simply a timing process. It wasn’t that Carvalho had reservations about Liverpool at the last minute, it was a just timing process.”
Worrying
If Castles’ first version of events is true, then that’s rather worrying for Liverpool.
It’s been reported that the Reds remain confident about landing Carvalho this summer, but if he has reservations about the move, then it may not come off.
It remains to be seen what happens with this young star, but Liverpool may not have a straightforward path to bringing him to Anfield.
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