Liverpool play football this week—Arne Slot’s Reds return. It is representative of the stability at Anfield, the firmly lodged belief in the club’s ethos, that Richard Hughes and Co held onto their resolve and resisted splurging this summer.
Some might call it unambitious, but FSG will maintain that their thrifty model has borne dividends throughout the Jurgen Klopp era and into the new chapter on Merseyside.
Federico Chiesa’s £12.5m arrival from Juventus in late August ended fears that the window would drift by without ostensible issues being fixed.
Time for Liverpool to crash through the floorboards? Forget about it. First in the Premier League; two wins from two in the Champions League; emphatically into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.
So much is owed to Slot, but also to Ryan Gravenberch’s ability to step up to the plate and make the deep-lying midfield position his own. Fabinho, who?
Ryan Gravenberch's start to the season
Let’s cast our minds back to April, shall we? We must do so to ascertain the magnitude of this journey that Gravenberch is taking us on.
We must do so to recognise the astuteness of Liverpool’s transfer strategy, FSG’s nous. Toward the end of the 2023/24 campaign, Turkish media passed that Gravenberch was on Galatasaray’s wishlist; AC Milan had also been reported to be appreciative of the midfielder’s qualities.
Last summer, Gravenberch was signed by Klopp for a fee of £34m, ending a mild nightmare at Bayern Munich. Still only 22, he’s emerged from a middling maiden year, starting only 12 times in the Premier League, in Liverpool to reinvent himself as a deep-sitting midfielder.
And what a transition. The Dutchman hasn’t so much stepped as pirouetted into his new home, with a clear identity and job in this ball-focused, control-centric climate at Anfield.
Matches (starts)
26 (12)
7 (7)
Goals
1
0
Assists
0
0
Touches*
28.8
81.4
Shots (on target)*
0.9 (0.3)
0.4 (0.3)
Pass completion
83%
89%
Key passes*
0.6
0.6
Dribbles completed*
1.0
1.0
Ball recoveries*
2.8
6.0
Tackles + interceptions*
1.5
3.8
Total duels (won)*
2.8 (47%)
5.9 (64%)
Good things come to those who wait. Liverpool spent last season without an ‘actual’ holding midfielder. Oh sure, Wataru Endo was signed for a shrewd £16m, but the 31-year-old was never going to be a long-term option and has played a marginal part in Slot’s plans.
Gravenberch has bloomed and looks set to stay, one of the most promising midfielders across the face of the game. It makes Liverpool’s decision to cash in on Fabinho when they did all the more impressive.
Why Liverpool sold Fabinho
Fabinho was a stalwart for Klopp’s Liverpool. Heralded for years as the dominant anchor after signing from AS Monaco in a £44m transfer in 2018, he was ever-present throughout the Reds’ modern golden age.
The former Brazil international chalked up 219 appearances for Liverpool across a five-year period before being sold to Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia for a reported fee of £40m after a stark decline.
His once immovable steel in defensive midfield had rusted away to resemble something closer to pitted iron at the end, with transfer insider Graeme Bailey scathingly calling him an “old man” during Liverpool’s struggles in 2022/23.
This is harsh, but there’s no escaping Fabinho’s nosedive that year, with Jamie Carragher critical of the Brazilian’s performance, picking him out after an “awful” defeat against newly-promoted Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
The midfielder was instrumental in winning the Premier League and Champions League, doing the gritty work that allowed Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino to cause chaos in the final third.
Market Movers
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Back in 2019, pundit Gary Neville even claimed that Fabinho was the finest number six in Europe, saying: “I think Fabinho at the moment is the best.
“Because what Fabinho does, actually, he doesn’t sit back in games—these holding midfield players who play horizontally, passes sideways and shift that way when they’re shuttling across. Fabinho plays vertically as well, he goes forward with his passes, he moves forward and steps in and wins the ball back.”
It’s only natural that he would start to ebb away from that monstrous level that he performed at for years in Klopp’s system, gegenpressing has its drawbacks, with several players in that industrious midfield appearing sapped and subdued toward the end, batteries depleted.
Though many might feel that Liverpool could have eked out another term’s worth of talent from the South American, his sale was needed to open up a new era on Merseyside. Liverpool won the Carabao Cup and restored their place in the Champions League, and Fabinho was sold for a pretty penny besides.
Fabinho's market value in 24/25
According to Football Transfers’ player-valuing model, Fabinho is worth just £12m at present, suggesting that Liverpool fielded interest in their long-time servant at just the right time.
After all, the £40m recouped from his departure, coupled with the sale of skipper Jordan Henderson for £12m plus add-ons, handed Klopp and Liverpool’s stand-in sporting director Jorg Schmadtke the means to further their midfield rebuild.
Alexis Mac Allister had been signed from Brighton & Hove Albion at the start of the summer transfer window for an eye-catching £35m fee, with Dominik Szoboszlai following soon after, his £60m release clause at RB Leipzig activated. These were patently deals that had been in the pipeline for a while as improvements were made to the malfunctioned engine room.
But Fabinho wasn’t pushed toward the exit, rather, his sale was welcomed once Saudi interest revealed itself – £40m, basically the same figure that was paid for his services way back when, was an offer that the Reds were obliged to accept.
So followed the arrival of Endo, met with derision from rivals after efforts to sign Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo well wide of the mark, both headed for the bounties at Chelsea.
Endo has played his part, though, crucial in steadying the ship last term and starring in the Carabao Cup final that Liverpool won… against Chelsea.
Ah, but of course, Gravenberch then arrived at the final stage of the 2023 summer market. Cause and effect play a cardinal role in the success or failure of a football club, and Liverpool have mastered accuracy and implementation over the past decade. Fabinho was sold at just the right time.
Gravenberch is shining. It’s working out just so.
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