Fabinho reveals how teammate convinced him to sign for Liverpool

Dan Butterfield
Fabinho Firmino Van Dijk Henderson Salah Liverpool celebration v Porto TEAMtalk

Liverpool midfielder Fabinho has spoken about how one of his current teammates helped to convince him to sign for the Reds last summer.

The Brazilian has revealed how Roberto Firmino began messaging his international teammate in the 2017/18 season which led to the former Monaco man joining the Premier League club.

“I remember that after one of my games for Monaco, against Marseille, where I’d played well and scored, Firmino sent me a message and we started to talk,” Fabinho told Esporte Interativo.

“He said: ‘the coach asked about you, what I thought about you, I talked you up a little bit’.

“We exchanged some messages for a while and I asked him some things about Liverpool and that was it for a while.

“Then Liverpool reached my agents, made them aware of the interest and set up a meeting with Klopp. We talked about his ideas for the team, work routine, tactics, physical training.

“My interest was rising, because I had always said that if I were to leave Monaco, it would only be to a team that really wanted me.

“I was very happy with Liverpool wanting to sign me and then made up my mind that it was the right thing to do. It was quick, right after the [Champions League] final against Real Madrid, the signing was made official.”

While delighted to have secured a transfer to Liverpool, Fabinho was made to wait for his Premier League debut.

It was October before the 25-year-old made his top-flight bow in England, but impressive progress has been made from that point by a versatile performer now preparing for a Champions League final outing against Tottenham on Saturday.

“I played pretty much all the pre-season games, thought that I played well, and because of that, also thought that I would start playing earlier, not wait as much I did,” Fabinho added.

“Others players made sure that I was relaxed, they told me: ‘don’t worry, everyone that arrives goes through that, like [Andy] Robertson and [Alex] Oxlade-Chamberlain’.

“I was calm, tried to learn about the team, the other players, getting used to the intensity of the league.

“After a while, Klopp gave me the chances and little by little I could show my value and that I could be important to the team.”

The midfielder, who has also filled in in defence this season has gone on to make 40 appearances in all competitions, scoring his first and only goal in the 4-0 win over Newcastle United on Boxing Day.

Fabinho was not the only Brazilian to sign for Liverpool last summer with goalkeeper Allison Becker joining from AS Roma for what was then a record fee for a keeper. Liverpool’s Brazilian trio now prepare for the Champions League final with the hope of going one better than last year.

 

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