4thelulz

Plenty has been written elsewhere about Fabinho as an ideal fit for Liverpool; he is a title winner with Champions League experience, coming into his peak years, and will step straight into a midfield that has lacked variety since the phasing-out and subsequent departure of Lucas Leiva. If you can muddle along all the way to a European final, Liverpool have muddled along without a specialist defensive midfielder. They now have one of the most coveted in Europe.

This is unlike the move for Mo Salah, who was only ever coveted in hindsight. As Roma owner James Pallotta recently revealed: “We can’t tell you that anybody else was calling for Salah at anywhere near that kind of price.” Less than a year on, there are executives in club boardrooms across Europe angrily demanding to know how Fabinho slipped through their grasps. They would happily have paid £40m but Liverpool had already schmoozed their way into his affections.

“A football club of this size coming after my services, I didn’t have to think that much about coming over,” said the Brazilian, joining a growing list of players including Keita, Virgil van Dijk and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who have signed for Liverpool despite extensive interest from richer clubs offering richer rewards. There is something about Liverpool and something about Jurgen Klopp which creates a compelling cocktail of history and hope, of permanence and personality.

But it actually looks good here