Fabinho
Fabinho is convinced Liverpool already have enough quality in their squad to fill the hole left by Gini Wijnaldum’s departure – despite their Premier League rivals spending heavily this summer. Wijnaldum ended a five-year stay with the Reds when he joined Paris Saint-German on a free transfer having failed to agree a new deal at Anfield. Liverpool have thus far not made any move in the transfer market to replace the Dutchman, although they are keeping tabs on a number of potential midfield targets. And Fabinho believes there are already sufficient options available to Jurgen Klopp in the engine room.
Fabinho said: “Our squad has already shown we have good players to replace him. I think the midfield is the part of the team where we have more players – we have Hendo, me, Thiago, Curtis, Millie, Naby Keita, a lot of players who can play in this position. I’m not worried about it (Wijnaldum leaving). Of course, we will miss Gini for the person he is as well, but we have the quality in this group to replace him. Gini was a really good friend of mine. Personally, I will miss him a lot. And the team will miss him because he played in all the games, was never injured and was a really good player. He was a leader. Gini was a really special player for this club. For me personally, he helped me a lot since I arrived at the club. Now he is at another team and I wish him all the best at PSG.”
While Liverpool’s transfer business has been limited to the £36milllion capture of French centre-back Ibrahima Konate from RB Leipzig, their main Premier League title rivals have been splashing the cash in recent weeks. Champions Manchester City confirmed on Friday the £100m signing of Jack Grealish from Aston Villa and remain in the hunt for similarly-valued Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane. Manchester United have spent £73m on Jadon Sancho and are waiting to copper-bottom a £41m move for Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane, while Chelsea are lining up a bid of more than £90m to re-sign their former striker Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan. Fabinho, though, is adamant Liverpool are paying no interest to what their challengers are doing in the transfer market.
Fabinho said: “This Liverpool squad has already won the Premier League, the Champions League, some important trophies. We have already shown what we are capable of. We don’t pay attention to the other teams. City are the Premier League champions and Chelsea the Champions League champions, and the English teams are always strong and will always fight for trophies. This year won’t be different. We will be strong and they will be strong as well. Hopefully we will be a bit stronger. We don’t pay too much attention to the other teams, we just focus on us and working hard to be in the best way as possible.”
