Rumour Mongering: Liverpool “Step Up” Pursuit of Fulham Rising Star

One of the breakout youngsters in the Championship this season has been Fulham 19-year-old Fabio Carvalho, with the Portuguese attacker making the step up to first team regular for the league leaders with seven goals and two assists in 17 total appearances.

That’s an impressive return for a youngster that has had clubs in the Premier League keeping an eye on him and this week the rumours have kicked into high gear with the Reds said to be ready to “step up” their pursuit of the talented young forward and false nine.

Carvalho was born in Lisbon but joined Fulham’s academy as a 12-year-old, making him domestically trained for registration purposes. The player signed a two-year deal in 2020 that expires this summer, but some reports have Liverpool ready to pay £5M now.

Due to his age, if Carvalho was signed after his contract expired Fulham would be owed training compensation. In the Reds’ most recent case of such, a tribunal decided they owed Fulham £4.3M for Harvey Elliott, who left the Cottagers for the Reds as a 16-year-old.

It would be expected that the fee they are offering for Carvalho today would represent at least some premium on the compensation they would expect to pay for him in order to bring the player in six months early and avoid any competition for his signature.

Carvalho, who was a year ahead of Elliott during his time at Fulham’s academy, has so far turned out internationally for England at the youth level up to the U18 level but would also be eligible to represent Portugal and East Timor as a senior international.