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Fabio Carvalho is understood to be closing in on a loan move to RB Leipzig, and I think this has been one that’s been on the cards for a while after he completely fell out of favour at Liverpool since the World Cup.
When he first joined last summer, following Liverpool also starting work on that deal the previous January, it was seen as a real coup for Liverpool. They beat off competition from a few other big clubs, including RB Leipzig at the time as well, and there was real excitement that they’d seen off rivals in Europe for a top young player.
Then if you look at his first few weeks at Liverpool, it looked quite promising. He scored early on in his Anfield career, opening his account in that 9-0 win over Bournemouth, and scored that late, late winner against Newcastle not long after. He started the Merseyside Derby as well, but overall the team wasn’t where it should’ve been, and he was one of the victims. If you look post-World Cup, he started only two games, so it’s not a huge surprise that he would look to leave on loan, or even permanently this summer. I was quite struck that he didn’t even get off the bench in the last game of the season against Southampton in a 4-4 draw when a lot of changes were made, and he must’ve been thinking ‘can I really do another year of this?’
My understanding is that this move has come about more from the player, and understandably so if you look at how little he played after the World Cup, but I think the terms of the loan deal tell you that there’s still hope he has a future at Anfield. Liverpool didn’t want to give up on him immediately, and they made sure there was no buy option at the end of the loan, which I believe Leipzig were keen on. Liverpool still believe there’s a player there who could be useful for them in the future, but for now you…
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