Former Chelsea and Tottenham defender Jason Cundy tells talkSPORT that Liverpool may have to split ways with Fabinho after the Brazilian’s form ‘rapidly dropped’ under Jurgen Klopp (1 March, 11.40pm)
To be fair to the former Real Madrid star, this was perhaps one of his better nights of late. That’s hardly much of a compliment.
Fabinho was fortunate to remain on until the conclusion of Wednesday’s 2-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers, despite being much improved in previous appearances. The Brazil international was fortunate to avoid a straight red card following a clash with Mario Lemina against Brighton in the FA Cup.
Fabinho, a season or two ago, would have put out the fire before it spread; anticipation and timing were the keys to his success. Now, at the age of 29 and after so many years of high-octane football, Fabinho, like many other members of Klopp’s side, is beginning to show signs of wear.
IS FABINHO FIGHTING FOR HIS LIVERPOOL FUTURE?
“His form has significantly dropped over the last 12 months,” Cundy claims.
“I saw him tonight, and he’s putting in a couple of challenges where he’s getting caught. He’s starting to appear to be a major issue in the middle of the park. Maybe not tonight, but his drop-off…
“If you want to replace someone in the middle, I would consider shipping him off in the summer.”
In his defense, Fabinho has been practically vital to Liverpool’s recent recovery. At least in the Premier League. Klopp’s team has already kept four straight clean sheets, and the £40 million acquisition from Monaco has started three of those games, with the 5-2 defeat at home to Real Madrid feeling more like an exception than a continuation of Liverpool’s decline.
“He understands he’s not flying, and he has to grind his way back,” Klopp recently revealed, asking Fabinho to be inspired by another North West-based footballer who has relaunched his career.
“In this position, you need a guy who wins challenges, who protects everybody, but who plays football as well. Fabinho has been the best in that position for many years.
“At the moment, it’s not clicking. Certain players have not reached the heights they have for us in the last five or six years. It’s not uncommon.
“Marcus Rashford is one of the best examples. I’m not sure he can explain the difference between his season last year and his season this year. You have to struggle and work through it.”
Liverpool made a club-record acquisition of the world’s top young player.
Various Liverpool players were named in FourFourTwo’s Main 100 Youthful Players of 2001 – yet the rundown has not matured well
Liverpool’s institute has created a few mind blowing players during the Chief Association period.
After graduating from the Academy, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones, and Caoimhin Kelleher are crucial members of Jurgen Klopp’s first team, whereas Harvey Elliot and Stefan Bajcetic were signed for the youth ranks when they were in their mid-teens. Fast forward to the present day.
Ben Doak, Bobby Clark, Conor Bradley, and Jarell Quansah all hope to be the next players to make important first team moves, and the Academy conveyor belt isn’t slowing down.
The Reds’ academy, on the other hand, has not always been the “gold mine” it is today. Throughout the 1990s, it was frequently lamented that Gerrard was the last graduate to become a key member of the first team.
Taking into account how productive the nineties had been, referenced close by Manchester Joined’s class of ’92, spectators were astounded at Liverpool’s inability to uncover the following Gerrard, Owen, or Carragher. In the end it took different changes in the background, managed by any semblance of Rafa Benitez and Brendan Rodgers, before the Reds really got back on way under Klopp.
Six Reds players highlighted in the rundown, with all putting in the main 40 and two in the best 10. In the meantime, the top five would be made up of three future Liverpool players, and one future academy signing would bring their total to 10. However, thinking back, only one of those can really profess to have truly been one of the most amazing stars of their age.
The list includes some of the best players of the 21st century. However, when you consider 2007 Ballon d’Or victor Kaka, who lifted both the World Cup and Advocate Association during his distinguished playing vocation, just positioned 95th, you have a thought regarding where we’re going to take.
Congrats, Kaka! You were rated higher in 2001 than David Prutton, Alexander Hleb, Erdal Kilicaslan, Daniyel Cimen, and Benjamin Auer! We can’t remember that last trio either, so don’t worry. Unfortunately, Shaun Maloney and Kieran Richardson both set higher than the unbelievable Brazilian in places 100-91.
Breaking into the eighties, we have our most memorable future Liverpool player. The Calliste Ramon Then of Manchester Joined together, he won the FA Youth Cup with the club in 2003 yet left the Red Demons for the Reds in 2005 and was the stores’ top goalscorer in 2005/06.
Dimitar Berbatov is ranked 82nd, Michael Essien is ranked 78th, and Championship Manager legend Cherno Samba is ranked 71st as we move down the list!
Even though Liverpool offered £1.5 million to acquire the Millwall striker, they were unsuccessful in reaching an agreement with the Lions. The move fell through and Samba never satisfied his true capacity, with that imploded move to Anfield at last sending him on a descending winding.
After signing with Cadiz, Samba went on to play for Malaga B, Plymouth Argyle, Wrexham, Haka, Panetolikos, and FK Tonsberg before an injury forced him to retire early in July 2015, when he was just 29 years old.
Moving on, 70th place goes to Matteo Brighi, who was with Juventus at the time. He was bizarrely the highest-rated player in FIFA 2003, scoring an incredible 97, making him another video game legend. The only player in the game’s history to ever receive a rating that was higher than that of EA is Brazilian Ronaldo, not Cristiano. Interestingly, not in 2002/03, despite his World Cup success and Ballon d’Or victory that year.
Yes, from a virtual perspective, Lionel Messi and Ronaldo (Cristiano, not Brazilian) are “worse” than Brighi. Due to injuries, the midfielder never lived up to his potential, so Juventus sold him to Parma in the same summer. Detecting a common subject here? In any case, we stray…
There are a couple of conspicuous names somewhere in the range of 70th and 40th, with Joaquin of Genuine Betis in 42nd effectively the best, yet you can look at the full rundown at the lower part of the article in the event that you need the full days of old experience.
Thus, our first player, a Liverpool player! Chris Kirkland set 38th! Not bad for a goalkeeper who was predicted to one day play for England.
He played 45 games over the course of five years for the team that won the Champions League in 2005 and had actually replaced Jerzy Dudek as Benitez’s first-choice player earlier that season. However a back injury guaranteed he missed the last part of that mission and missed the last.
After a four-year battle with depression, he made permanent moves to Wigan Athletic, Sheffield Wednesday, Preston North End, and Bury before retiring in 2016. Fortunately, Kirkland is in a better place now, frequents the Anfield press box, and collaborates extensively with the LFC Foundation.
Dean Ashton, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and striker Gareth Barry finished 36th, 35th, and 31st, respectively. Notwithstanding a difficult Martin O’Neill and Aston Estate, we’d have another Liverpool delegate.
Gregory Vignal, a defender for the Reds, comes in ahead of Jermain Defoe to make the cut, however. After signing with the Reds in September 2000, the Frenchman made 20 appearances and enjoyed a prolonged run in the starting lineup at the start of the 2001/02 season.
However, he missed the season due to a foot fracture that halted his progress. After various credit moves, he joined Portsmouth in 2005, and had spells with Focal point, Birmingham City, Atromitos, Dundee Joined together, and AS Beziers prior to resigning in 2013. He was promoted to assistant manager at FC Versailles earlier this summer. He is now a coach.
Milan Baros ranks 21st on FourFourTwo’s list, beating out players like Arjen Robben, Maicon, and Ricardo Quaresma, among others. The striker, who was acquired from Banik Ostrava in 2002 for £3.2 million, made an immediate impact at Anfield, scoring a respectable 12 goals during the 2002/03 season.
He won the Golden Boot at Euro 2004 as Czech Republic reached the semi-finals, recovering from a broken ankle in September 2003. In the 2004/05 season, he was Liverpool’s leading goal scorer with 13 goals as they won the Champions League.
However, that was not enough to keep him in Benitez’s plans, and he was sold to Aston Villa for £6.5 million. After stints with Antalyaspor, Lyon, and Galatasaray, he was forced to retire in 2020 due to injury after several stints back in his native Czech Republic.
Once tipped to be a ‘next Gerrard‘, Welsh never satisfied such expectations. He showed up for the Reds prior to being exchanged with Structure City for youthful winger Paul Anderson in January 2006.
Long-lasting stretches with Tranmere Meanderers, Preston North End, and Grimsby Town followed, with Welsh spending most of his playing vocation as an Association One midfielder, before he dropped into non-association with Atherton Collieries and Stafford Officers. He is now a coach for Preston North End’s professional development phase (U18 and U16).
Into the main 10 and French cousins Anthony Le Tallec and Florent Sinama-Pongolle are positioned 10th and seventh individually. After starring at the FIFA Under-17s World Cup in 2001, they had already been signed by Liverpool. However, they remained on loan at Le Havre for two more years.
Both officially moved to Anfield in 2003, and while they contributed to the Reds’ run to the Champions League title in 2005, they never lived up to the initial expectations. After several loan moves away, Le Tallec returned to France permanently with Le Mans in 2008 after making 32 appearances for the club and scoring once.
After that, stints with Auxerre and Valenciennes ended in relegation, and Atromitos and Astra Giurgiu moved to Greece and Romania. After that, he would play for Orleans again in France, and in 2021, he would end his career with Annecy.
As a result, he would play in Russia, the United States, Scotland, and Thailand, playing for Rostov, Chicago Fire, Dundee United, and Chainat Hornbill before returning to France in 2019 to play for Saint-Pierroise.
We’ve moved into the top five, passing Rafael van der Vaart, who was sixth, and we still have three future Liverpool players to play! Imagine how excited you would be if FourFourTwo published a list in 2023 and announced that three of the top five teams would relocate to Anfield within six years?!
In any case, fifth place goes to Jermaine Pennant. The troubled winger left Arsenal and joined Liverpool, which had just been promoted.
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