Liverpool’s summer recruit Fabinho has denied claims he saw a move to Mancheter United blocked by his former club Monaco last summer.
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp produced something of a transfer surprise by swooping to sign the versatile Brazilian in a £43.7m deal early in the summer, with Fabinho having previously been strongly linked with the likes of PSG, Inter Milan and of course United.
Fabinho, who can operate in midfield or as a right-back, shot to fame with his starring role in Monaco’s Ligue 1 winning side in 2016/17 and was heavily linked with Jose Mourinho’s side last summer.
But as he prepares to make his Liverpool debut in their Premier League opener against West Ham on Sunday, Fabinho has come clean about United’s alleged interest.
“Manchester never showed any formal interest, they never made me an offer at all,” the 24-year-old told Sky Sports. “Maybe there was some interest or a conversation but it’s not a case of Monaco not letting me go to Manchester United or denying me the move, nothing ever really materialised.”
The Brazilian star is one of a number of impressive captures made by Liverpool this summer, with Naby Keita, Alisson and Xherdan Shaqiri also arriving ahead of what could prove an exciting season at Anfield.
Discussing why supporters may have to show the new boys patience, Klopp said last week: “I am really happy with the new players.
“Fabinho, much better in offensive pressing, but still struggling a bit as not fresh enough. It’s been a hard pre-season for him.
“Shaqiri comes on as a nine and looked really good. He can play as a 10 and on the wing. It was fantastic what he did.
“Naby played 50 minutes at the highest level and then left some gaps open, transition in defence could be better, so many things to work on.”
Liverpool have been tipped as the second favorites to lift the Premier League in May after Man City.
I can’t recall Liverpool being so short in the Premier League title race (4/1) in years and the odds suggest we’re by far the most likely challengers to Manchester City. I did check back to see what we were after the near-miss of 2013/14 and it was 16/1. Luis Suarez had just left so fair enough.
But this time there has been no loss of a marquee player. Instead, hopeful transfer speculation has taken a very welcome path. Rumours have become reality.
I can remember pub conversations during last summer about trying to secure Virgil van Dijk, Naby Keita and a world-class goalkeeper.
We hoped Mo Salah might turn out to be a good acquisition and chip in with some goals (he was a hugely unlikely 66/1 shot for the Premier League Golden Boot), that Andy Robertson could do a solid job at left-back and that youngster Trent Alexander Arnold could get more game time.
Salah set the world on fire to give us one of the most lethal attacking tridents in world football, Van Dijk and Keita did indeed arrive and so did Alisson between the sticks. We paid a world-record fee for a goalkeeper before Chelsea did us a favour by forking out more and immediately taking some pressure off.
Robertson was a revelation after being gently phased in by Klopp and Alexander-Arnold made the progress we all hoped.
And just to prove we’d become rather good at this transfer lark, we even revealed midfield stopper Fabinho without anyone having a clue we were in for him. Happy days and what a contrast to all the botched transfer business of old.