Reactions to Liverpool’s Fabinho Signing: Everyone’s Excited

In what’s amounted to a whirlwind of a transfer, mere hours took us from reports in France first linking Liverpool to Monaco’s Brazilian midfield ace Fabinho to the club announcing the signing. The speed, stealth, and efficiency with which this signing was accomplished is truly a thing to behold.

With Fabinho, the club have made their first major signing of the transfer window, signaling their intent in a bold way. Filling a position of need and one made threadbare in light of Hendo’s recent struggles with injury and with the seemingly inevitable departure of Emre Can means the move is certainly a welcomed one. And we’ve even got the leaning pics in already!

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is also very excited about this signing. Speaking to the club’s official site, he highlighted Fabinho’s tactical flexibility and smarts among the things that have him excited:

“We have signed a fantastic player, but someone who is an equally fantastic person I think.

“He has ability and mentality to play at the highest level in a number of positions. He can play ‘6’, ‘8’ and ‘2’. This is cool.

“He is tactically very strong and football smart. I think he improves our squad and there aren’t that many players you can say that about in this moment, because the quality we have already is so high.

“This signing gives us new opportunities and for that I am excited.”

For his part, Fabinho seems to be eager to get to work for his new club:

“I am really excited about this move.

“This is something that I always wanted – this is a giant of a team. The infrastructures of the club look exceptional.

“A football club of this size coming after my services, I didn’t have to think that much about coming over.

Exciting work done with little noise and fuss. Don’t let the lack of pre-reporting fool you, though: it’s been suggested that Liverpool have been tracking Fabinho for at least a year, with scouts analyzing his performances and fit for all of the 2017-18 season. While this transfer may have appeared out of nowhere for fans, this clearly was not the case for the people working behind the scenes.

This success as well as the similarly quick and surprising transfers of Andy Robertson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all point towards a sort of progression among the decision makers at Liverpool Football Club. The gaffes around Virgil Van Dijk’s delayed transfer aside, mapping the transition of the front-office from the team that pushed for transfers of the likes of Stewart Downing and Charlie Adam to the type that has successfully hit on Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Andy Robertson, and, in the case of Virgil Van Dijk, managed to fight off competition from the likes of Manchester City for the signature of a bonafide superstar, it’s clear Liverpool Football Club are on the right path.

Here we are: 48 hours after a disappointing cup final and the team are already looking to reload. I can’t wait for next season already. And by the looks of it, neither can Fabinho. August can’t come fast enough.