EPL: Fabinho left out of Liverpool squad amid interest from Saudi Arabia
English football club, Liverpool have confirmed that Fabinho will not travel with the squad for their pre-season tour of Germany.
The Brazilian footballer endured a tough 2022-23 and didn’t look like the player he was in his first four seasons at Liverpool.
The £40m offer Liverpool received from Saudi Pro League champions Al-Ittihad for Fabinho, would represent tremendous value. Having earlier included the Brazilian in their travelling party, the club decided to omit him from the squad heading to Germany on Saturday, July 15, signalling the end of his five-year Anfield career.
Fabinho has now been granted permission by the English club to negotiate his exit with the Saudi Arabian club owned by the nation’s Public Investment Fund, which also owns a majority stake in Newcastle United.
Fabinho has been at Liverpool since July 2018 after the Reds signed him from Monaco for a fee in the region of £39m. He has since helped the club win the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup.
There are reports Jordan Henderson is a target for Al-Ettifaq, who recently appointed former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard as their new manager. The 32-year-old England international is believed to have accepted a huge £700,000-a-week pay packet to join Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard at his new club Al-Ettifaq.
But no official bid has been submitted for the midfielder yet, and so he was included in the squad that will head to Germany before flying out on their pre-season tour to Singapore.
Liverpool has been rebuilding their midfield following the departures of James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
They have signed Argentina international Alexis Mac Allister, 24, from Brighton and Hungary captain Dominik Szoboszlai, 22, from RB Leipzig and were looking at a long-term successor to Fabinho.
Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia, 19, was one of those under consideration but if they lose the experience of Fabinho, and possibly Henderson, it is expected to see the club shift their transfer strategy.