One of Liverpool’s best transfer decisions of recent memory surely has to be the signing of Fabinho in summer 2018.
We had just lost the Champions League Final to Real Madrid – and out of nowhere – announced the Brazilian had arrived from AS Monaco.
Following a slow start, in which he barely played before November, Fabinho began to prove his merits and is now an automatic starter as Liverpool’s midfield lynchpin.
Now, he’s rated as maybe the anchorman in Europe. Certainly nobody in England has come close this season, anyway.
But he could have ended up a Manchester United player, had things gone differently.
The Echo claim that in 2017, when Jose Mourinho signed Nemanja Matic, he passed on Fabinho due to the fact he was a converted right-back and not a natural no.6…
A year later, Mourinho signed Fred to join Matic in United’s midfield and allowed Liverpool a free run at Fabinho.
While Matic and Fred’s stock has crashed, Fabinho’s has soared – making United’s transfer decision appear ludicrous in hindsight.