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What’s the story?
In a move that has seemingly come out of nowhere, Atletico Madrid are reportedly stepping in ahead of Manchester Untied to sign up 23-year-old Brazilian midfielder-cum-right-back Fabinho from French champions AS Monaco. The French giants have been holding out for £40 million, or €45.2 million, and with Manchester United dithering over the transfer, The Express reports (via AS) that Atletico have agreed an in-principle offer for the Brazilian.
Now, before you get on my back for seemingly ignoring Atletico’s transfer ban, the reports go on to state that while the deal has been agreed the player’s movement will happen only in January.
In case you didn’t know
Fabinho spent a year on loan in Spain! Having started his youth career at Paulinia and Fluminense he moved on to Portugal – often the first European port of call for most budding Brazilian footballers – and to Rio Ave. He was immediately moved on loan to Real Madrid B (Castilla) after the Spanish giants evinced interest in him. He played one game for Real Madrid and had one assist – in a 6-2 La Liga victory over Malaga in the Bernabeu.
After that, he moved on to Monaco on a two-year loan and the principality club made the deal permanent in 2015.
The heart of the matter
A right back who is equally comfortable as a defensive-minded central midfielder, Fabinho was one of those who caught the eye in Monaco’s sensational run to the Ligue 1 title and the UEFA Champions League semifinals. Manchester United were eyeing him with a view of providing more balance to the midfield (and thence allowing Paul Pogba to roam) but it appears now that Atleti have pulled off a coup.
In an interesting turn of events, AS also claim that Fabinho’s former club Real Madrid will profit from the prospective deal – and they stand to make £200,000 from it!
Video
Fabinho in action, for those who may not have seen him:
The lad can play!
Author’s Take
This deal actually works in favour of both parties – Monaco are fairly confident they will not be able to keep their best players and are angling for the best possible prices they can get (see Mbappe, Kylian) while Atletico are caught in a fix due to the transfer ban putting off anyone of any consequence. With this deal, Monaco will still be able to make full use of him for the first half of the season while getting the full value (in terms of money) for the player. Atletico, meanwhile, are assured of the services of a high-quality player for the later half of the season.
Manchester United, then, will still have to go in search of that one midfielder who could take over the reins of central midfield from Michael Carrick. Eric Dier, anyone?
