Fabio Carvalho put on a show for Fulham fans at Craven Cottage on Monday night as he scored and assisted during his side’s 7-0 rout of Luton Town. The victory clinched the Championship title for the London side who’ll return straight back to the Premier League following their relegation last season.
It’s likely that Carvalho won’t be going with them, though he is expected to still be plying his trade in the Premier League next season with Anfield his next destination. The 19-year-old emerged as a surprise late transfer target at the end of the January transfer window, but a potential deal fell through after the 11pm deadline passed.
Liverpool continued negotiations behind the scenes and struck a deal with the attacker, whose contract with Fulham expires at the end of this campaign. He’s now set to join up with Jurgen Klopp’s squad before pre-season.
Monday was more than likely his final Craven Cottage appearance for Fulham, and it was a fitting farewell from the England U20 international, whose impressive displays this season have made him a real fan-favourite at the club.
Although Carvalho had featured four times for the Cottagers in the Premier League last season, it’s been in this campaign in which he’s truly come to the forefront, scoring ten goals while registering a further eight assists.
Most often, he has usually featured as a number ten inside Marco Silva’s favoured 4-2-3-1 formation. This plays to his strengths as he is able to drop in between the lines, receive passes on the turn and cause serious problems for the opposition inside the final third.
We saw a fine example of the same on Monday night when he dropped short to collect the ball before turning and firing in a pinpoint pass into the feet of Bobby Reid to grab Fulham’s fifth of the game.
Prior to that, he got on the scoresheet himself after making a clever run from deep to latch onto a pass from Harry Wilson before cooly finishing into the Luton goal.
Beyond his goal and assist, the 19-year-old’s attacking influence can be captured in the numbers from the night. He finished the match with a pass success rate of 95 per cent, with all of his attempted passes into the box and final third finding their intended targets. He also made more progressive runs than any other Fulham player (six).
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 personal goal threat too.
Having proven himself in the Championship this season, there’s now a real sense of anticipation about just how good he can be playing and developing under Klopp in these coming years.
