This week, Liverpool confirmed that Fulham attacking midfielder Fabio Carvalho will join them on 1 July.
The attacker, who Jurgen Klopp has been keen on for some time, is expected to put pen to paper on a five-year contract with the Reds.
The switch to Anfield nearly happened in January when Carvalho completed a medical and agreed personal terms with the Reds, however, issues with the paperwork meant the deal fell through. Liverpool were not deterred though and the transfer was finally agreed in principle last month.
Carvalho does already have some Premier League experience under his belt, featuring four times for the Cottagers in the 2020-21 campaign, however it’s been this season in which he’s truly come to the forefront, scoring ten goals while registering a further eight assists.
Most often, he would usually feature as a number ten inside Marco Silva’s favoured 4-2-3-1 formation. This role played to his strengths as he was able to drop in between the lines, receive passes on the turn and cause serious problems for the opposition inside the final third.
Carvalho’s ability to thread dangerous balls into the box whilst also being to dribble through a defence make him a multi-faceted threat in attack, particularly when you throw in his own goal threat too.
With this profile, many at Liverpool will hope that he can go on to be the player that many thought Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could have been at Anfield.
Both players do share very similar traits, though we’ve seen very little of Oxlade-Chamberlain’s best in more recent times.
When he arrived at Anfield in 2017, the former Arsenal player looked on course to establish himself as an integral member of Klopp’s side. His direct and imposing style of play brought another dimension to Liverpool’s midfield which at the time was industrious and fairly risk-averse.
He would regularly carry the ball from deep, dribble at defenders and attempt shots from distance, with his scintillating strike against Manchester City in the quarter-finals of the Champions League living long in the memory of many Liverpool fans.
Yet it wasn’t long after that goal he suffered a hugely unfortunate cruciate ligament injury that kept him sidelined for the best part of a year.
We’ve seen only glimpses of his best form since his return meaning playing time has been sparse. It had seemed as though he reignited his Liverpool career earlier in the year, featuring in every league game during the Africa Cup of Nations when the Reds were missing Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita.
However ongoing fitness issues combined with a lack of consistency have continued to stunt any progression and have made Oxlade-Chamberlain too easy of an option for Klopp to leave out of his side.
His status right now is captured by the fact that he’s failed to make the bench in seven of Liverpool's last eight Premier League games, and hasn’t actually featured at all for the Reds in the league since February.
Although he has a year remaining on his current deal, there’s every chance he departs this summer in search of more regular minutes. That’d be a move that would suit both parties, especially with Carvalho primed to take his place.
