29 May 2018 12:57:06
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that very few of us knew anything about Fabinho before last night. Whenever we’re linked with (or buy) someone I know nothing about I spend the next day or so reading as much as I can about the player to try and figure out what he’s all about and what impact he can have, here’s a summary of what I’ve discovered. Note that I have never watched Fabinho and all this is based in conjecture.

Fabinho made the move to Europe shortly before his 19th birthday signing for Portuguese side Rio Ave FC, the young Brazilian had yet to make a senior appearance in his home country. It’s pretty clear that this was a speculative move by Rio to acquire a valuable asset they could sell on and this is backed up by the fact they immediately loaned Fabinho to Real Madrid’s B tea, he played 30 times for them in the 12/ 13 season, he also made the bench for the senior team on two occasions getting onto the pitch once. I understand that he played as a RB during this time.

Real Madrid passed on Fabinho bringing back Daniel Carvajal instead so Fabinho spent the next two seasons on loan to Monaco playing 84 times predominantly at RB. It was towards the end of the 14/ 15 season that Monaco started to try Fabinho in midfield. In 2015 Monaco paid Rio around €6m to sign Fabinho and he spent the season splitting his time between RB and DM. That season Fabinho took over penalty duties for Monaco and 22 of the 31 goals he scored in 5 seasons have come from the spot.

By the 16/ 17 Fabinho was entrenched in midfield playing predominantly next to Bakayoko, now of Chelsea. This was Monaco’s golden year winning the French league and making the semi-finals of the CL. At the end of the season Monaco suffered a fire sale of their best players, losing Mbappe, Mendy, Silva and Bakayoko. It was reported that Fabinho was looked at by Utd (who opted for Matic) and PSG who’s offer was rejected as Monaco didn’t want to sell to a rival (despite allowing Mbappe to make that very move) . Fabinho has made it clear he wanted to leave that summer and has reiterated his desire to move on ever since.

Despite wanting to leave Fabinho continued to play well in the 17/ 18 season for a Monaco team that, despite losing its other stars, still finished 2nd in Ligue 1, their CL campaign was disappointing however with Monaco failing to win a match in the group stage (against Leipzig, Porto and Besiktas) .

Internationally Fabinho hovered around the Brazil team without ever getting much of a look in, he’s only ever appeared in friendlies making two starts and two sub appearances and all at RB. He was selected for the squads of the 2015 and 2016 Copa Americas but hasn’t been called up for any squad in the last two years.

Using Stats to judge a player is fraught with danger but there is a correlation between statistically doing well and subjectively doing well so it’s worth noting that since the 14/ 15 season a certain stats site has judged Fabinho the 17th, 16th, 4th and 7th best player in Ligue 1. He’s also been rated higher than any of the Monaco’s other star players every year (Lemar, Silva, Mbappe, Mendy, Bakayoko) .

Fabinho is 6 foot 2 and strong in the air winning 66% of his aerial duels in 17/ 18, he’s also likes to get stuck into a tackle but he may not be great at them, he only won 28% of his tackles making 1.7 fouls per 90 minutes and earning 8 yellow cards over the course of the season. Reading between the lines he’s a good screen in front of the defence who’s not afraid to bring a player down if that’s what’s needed.

Fabinho will most likely compete with Henderson for playing time and comparisons are difficult due to the different leagues they compete in and how their respective teams play but, for what it’s worth; Fabinho is better in the air and makes more a lot more tackles but his success rate is worse and he makes a lot more fouls. In terms of passing it’s largely honours even with a similar breakdown of backwards vs forwards, completion rate, avg pass length and chances created. The data suggests that Fabinho will be a more natural midfield enforcer than Hendo while having a similar passing ability to the Englishman but it’s worth pointing out that Fabinho generally plays a lower standard of opposition in France.

From what I've read I see this signing as good rather than a slam dunk, it's reassuring that some of our European rivals have attempted to sign him and I hope he'll be a good option when we're trying to control a game but his disciplinary record is concerning and that could be a liability in the PL. Furthermore he hasn't outperformed Hendo offensively despite playing in a weaker league so I'm not convinced we've upgraded our first team (full disclosure; I'm a Hendo groupie so I may be biased) .

This summer we need to improve our squad and give ourselves different options and I think Fabinho will achieve that but I think he'll be a first team option rather than an automatic pick.


1.) 29 May 2018
29 May 2018 13:33:07
Nice one, PR. I agree with your assessment of Fab and the history behind his rise as they mostly all check out with the bits I already knew of him. I will say that he does get forward and score goals tho and has a wicked shot on him so whether he is better or even with Hendo on the offensive side, is neither here nor there, IMO. As for whether we have upgraded our first team or not, Ed01 has mentioned that Fab is an upgrade on Can and Wiji already and I tend to agree with him esp. with the fact that big clubs like Utd, PSG, and Atleti were after him. Great post, my friend.


2.) 29 May 2018
29 May 2018 13:33:38
Brilliant Putney you have answer all my questions.


3.) 29 May 2018
29 May 2018 14:03:27
I've seen Fabinho play twice for Brazil (at RB) and I watched him play twice again this season for Monaco. He's definitely a holding midfielder because when you look at his position when the other team has the ball, he is usually just ahead of the back 4. None of the box to box stuff (at least when I saw him play) . Obviously tall, and covers space quickly because of his long stride. And has a nice righty leg when it's time to shoot at goal or pass to anyone upfront.

We'll have to wait and see how Klopp plays him in his system. Will he ask him to stay back or be given the freedom to rush forward as Can frequently did? Will Klopp convert him into a box-to-box role, as most midfielders seem to have been under him?


4.) 29 May 2018
29 May 2018 16:10:59
Very interesting, thank you putney. Let's not forget he will almost certainly improve dramatically under klopp and co.

I think milner should stay, his kind of experience is important. He is a fantastic player. What has happened to lallana? Injuries, I know but he was so good in 16/ 17 season. He looks a shadow of that player. Looking at the effort he put in in the final, I think he is off. More concerned about trying to get to Russia, than busting a gut in Ukraine.


5.) 29 May 2018
29 May 2018 19:36:23
He kinda sounds like Lucas a bit specially with the not afraid to take down a player if needed and accept a booking for it. We have missed that since he left so that’s a big welcome.

On the other hand Keita's disciplinary record isn’t all that great either but everybody seems convinced Klopp can make it better so he may do the same for fab too.