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For Fabio Carvalho, the move to Hull City, which is set to be finalised this week, represents a clear indication of how things haven’t gone to plan over the past 18 months or so.
When he joined Liverpool, he did so as the outstanding young player in the Championship, a player tipped for international honours and a big future at Anfield.
Now, he finds himself back at square one, in many respects. It hasn’t worked out for him on Merseyside, it didn’t go much better for him over in Germany with RB Leipzig, and his stock has undoubtedly fallen.
With that in mind, then, it is vital that he first and foremost finds a way to get into the Hull side and play some games, and that once he does that, he shows the talent which convinced Liverpool (and many other clubs) that he was worth looking at.
The talent is there, for sure. Carvalho’s a lovely footballer, tidy and technically accomplished, with a good final pass and the ability to score goals, but he needs to develop in terms of involving himself in all aspects of the game, staying engaged and involved and not drifting to the fringes, which was a criticism during his (rather limited) appearances at Anfield.
It’s hard to imagine that he has a long-term future at Liverpool, to be perfectly honest, but that doesn’t mean he can’t, or won’t, have a good career. But he needs this spell to go well.
I’d be amazed if Liverpool looked to bring in a forward in this window. Of course Mohamed Salah is a miss, as is Wataru Endo in midfield, but they still have four high quality attacking options available, with the possibility of using Harvey Elliott and/or Dominik Szoboszlai off the right flank too, if required.
Liverpool, generally, do not go for such short-termism in their recruitment – and when they have done (Arthur Melo, for example) it tends not to work. They think about the bigger picture, not plugging two-week gaps.
It’s no surprise to see tons of players linked with Liverpool. It’s the price on the ticket for such a big club, that their name is thrown in whenever a prospect emerges or talk of a transfer starts to ramp up.
Ignoring the specific names for a second, the pertinent question is whether Liverpool will look to sign a forward player in the summer, and whether they need to. If no-one was to leave the club, I’d edge towards ‘no’, but of course if we were to see another summer like the last one, where previously-untouchable players were lured away by the Saudi Pro League, then everything becomes possible.
Mo Salah’s future, in particular, is one to watch. My personal opinion is that the last six months must have shown him the dangers of moving to Saudi Arabia at this stage of his career, and that he must surely be thinking about the idea of extending his stay in Europe, and at Liverpool. I can’t speak to Salah’s mindset, but I know he’s an ambitious character and that the best place to fulfil those ambitions is not in Riyadh or Jeddah.
If Salah were to stay, and assuming none of Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz or Diogo Jota were to be sold, I’d say Liverpool are in pretty good shape, attack-wise. The one thing they perhaps lack is a player of sheer speed who can play from the right, and so I understand why links with players such as Neto and Bakayoko persist, but I’m not sure the Reds would be spending £40m+ on those, unless there were players heading out of the door.
Timo Werner is back in English football after joining Tottenham on loan for the rest of the season. I think he is a great example of a player whose career could have turned out very differently had he chosen his next move a little more carefully in key moments.
In 2020, he was very much on the agenda at Liverpool. They tracked him extensively, conducted detailed research into his background and character, and were engaged in a lengthy dialogue with RB Leipzig over a potential deal.
Chelsea, though, won the argument, convincing the player that he would be a more integral part of their side than at Anfield, where the established front three of Salah, Mane and Firmino was still in its pomp, and offering better personal terms in the process.
My personal feeling is that had Werner moved to Merseyside, he would have fitted in far better than he ever did in West London. I know he won the Champions League with Chelsea, but it is impossible to regard his transfer as a success, given he scored 10 Premier League goals in two seasons there. He was the eighth of 11 penalty takers in a League Cup final shootout against Liverpool, and an unused sub in the FA Cup final a few months later. That tells you how his time at Stamford Bridge went.
Liverpool harbour few regrets. They signed Diogo Jota after missing out on Werner, and the Portuguese international has proven a very smart acquisition. I suspect Werner would have too, but we’ll never know. Perhaps at Spurs we’ll finally see him fulfil his true potential in the Premier League.
Liverpool’s victory over Arsenal may have required a little good fortune and a lot of grit and determination, but it serves merely to underline the progress of this team into serious contenders for honours.
Remember their ‘quadruple’ bid of 2021-22? They’re actually in an even better position this time around. They’re better-placed in the Premier League than two years ago, they’re a two-legged tie against Fulham away from the Carabao Cup final, favourites for the Europa League and they’ve just knocked out one of the favourites for the FA Cup away from home, earning a friendly fourth-round draw while Manchester City have to visit Tottenham.
They have a long way to go, but I think Liverpool have shown that it is they who can last the distance in the Premier League alongside City. They’re the hardest team to beat in the league, and when you have that, plus the attacking match-winners that Klopp has at his disposal, then you’re not far away at all from glory.
I still think there will be some twists to come – and Liverpool have three or four players they simply cannot afford to lose to injury – but I also think that we are set for a really exciting few months at Anfield. Come May, I expect at least one trophy to be in the cabinet.
