Who is Fabio Carvalho? The teenage Fulham sensation set for Liverpool
Fresh from Sunday's confirmation of the arrival of Luis Diaz, Liverpool's pursuit of Fabio Carvalho may not attract the same fanfare, but the teenager is still worth writing home about. After limited game time in the Premier League last season, Marco Silva has made Carvalho a first team regular in west London and the Cottagers are benefiting from inclusion.
At the time of writing, Carvalho is the fourth best rated player in the Championship this season, returning a WhoScored rating of 7.28. He has made 32 key passes in 2021/22, more than any other teenager in the top four tiers of English football this season, yet with his contract expiring in the summer, Fulham need to sell today or lose him on a free in the summer.
The west London side are battling for silverware and, even with an expiring contract, are keen to keep Carvalho at Craven Cottage until the end of the season to aid their title push. Liverpool's move for the 19-year-old, then, would be one that suits all parties. The Reds are prepared to allow Carvalho to remain at Fulham until the summer, where he will gain regular playing time in a team that allows attacking players to thrive.
Silva's side have scored at least 29 more goals (74) than any other Championship team this season with Carvalho having a direct hand in 11 of those, scoring seven. Operating impressively in the number 10 role for Fulham, it's likely that he'd have to adapt his game to suit Liverpool's 4-3-3 setup, but he'd offer an attacking threat from deeper in Jurgen Klopp's favoured system.
Carvalho's best quality is not only his ability to create for others, but to also receive the ball in tight situations and beat a man. One of his three statistically calculated WhoScored strengths is 'dribbling' and for good reason. A dribble success rate of 63.2% is the 18th best of the 126 players to have attempted 25 or more dribbles in the Championship this season. Room for improvement, yes, however a commendable return for a player who would often be tightly marked.
"I don’t want to heap too much on Fabio because he’s still a young boy but the future’s bright for him and he’s someone that I really like," former Fulham boss Scott Parker said of Carvalho last season. The promising words would sit well with Liverpool fans, who are understandbly eager to know more of the rising Fulham sit.
Of course, were he to seemlessly transition from Fulham to Liverpool, Carvalho would need to improve the defensive side to his game, particularly as he wouldn't have the same attacking freedom he currently enjoys with the Championship powerhouse. 1.6 tackles per 90 isn't a bad return by any stretch, yet a 67.6% tackle success rate shows there is work to be done on his work off the ball. For Fulham, this isn't such a weakness given their superiority in the division, but in a Liverpool system where the three central midfielders need to work hard off the ball to protect the defence, this would be found out.
That said, you only have to look at Harvey Elliott's development following his own move from Fulham to Anfield back in 2019 to witness how easily he slotted into this Reds setup. There is no reason to suggest Carvalho can't adjust his style of play to transition from a number 10 to a central midfielder given his age, and for the mooted £5m fee; the youngster would be a low risk capture that has the potential to become a key man for Liverpool down the line.
