Rodák went long for Mitrovic, who combed the ball until it reached Kebano on the left wing. At that moment, Fábio Carvalho started to accelerate, got even with his pair and entered very boldly in the area, where he received the bitten pass from Kebano and put the toe to make it 2-0 at Craven Cottage. It was the goal of the sentence, the goal that gave Fulham promotion to the Premier League and the goal that confirmed Carvalho as a budding talent.
Meanwhile, 215 miles from Fulham’s stadium to Anfield Road, Jürgen Klopp enjoyed his team’s Liverpool thrashing of Manchester United 4-0. A good omen for the red team, which faces its future with optimism, which it will share precisely with Fábio Carvalho…
“Who controls the present controls the past and who controls the past controls the future”, wrote Orwell, and Klopp, as a good reader of the British author, has followed this slogan: the previous winter was about to close the incorporation of Carvalho, but for last minute problems his signing was frustrated.
Liverpool’s move, however, served to convince the 19-year-old, whom Fulham kept for a few more months, but who will sign for the red team this summer, which will pay the London team five million euros plus variables as compensation. Five million which also represent a long-term investment for Klopp, who has been following the player for many months.
a protected species
With ten goals and seven assists to his credit, Fábio Carvalho is the big favorite to win the trophy for best young player in the English Football League (EFL). Although for this recognition not only his numbers have been taken into account, but also his treatment with the ball, which he pampers from the hooking position, where he starts at speed, filters his teammates and finishes, because he knows how to choose the right moment to step on the rival area.
The midfielder position is in danger of extinction, but Carvalho is a protected species, and at Fulham he has managed to carve out his niche. He also does not find problems turning to a band, so the lower categories of the English and Portuguese teams raffle him off. The last to benefit from his bureaucratic problems has been the Portuguese under 21, who hope to convince him, as Klopp has done, to play for his team.