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What's the story?
Former Liverpool midfielder, Xabi Alonso praised Fabinho while also drawing comparisons with him.
In case you didn't know...
Fabinho joined Liverpool for £43.7 million from AS Monaco in the summer transfer window of 2018 and the Brazilian has settled well into the team, after struggling during his opening few months at the club.
The Brazilian made 28 Premier League appearances during the 2018-19 season and enjoyed a passing accuracy of 85.3 per cent. He also impressed by completing 59 tackles, along with 26 clearances and 28 interceptions.
On the other hand, Alonso played 143 league games for Liverpool between 2004 and 2009. He won a couple of trophies with Liverpool including one Champions League trophy and one FA Cup.
The heart of the matter
Speaking to Liverpool's official website, Xabi Alonso compared himself with Fabinho.
He was full of praise when talking about the current Liverpool player and said,
"I think that we could have similarities in terms of the position,
"In terms of how we want to connect with the players around, how he makes the players around him better players, making them play easier and play better.
"Taking many small, correct decisions is part of being a midfielder and he does it very well.
"(When) he came to Madrid and you could see that technically he was very good, physically he was very good, but he was playing right-back."
The 37-year-old added,
"I think that he can play everywhere because of his understanding of the game and he is able to read what's going to happen and how he wants to do it, but I think the step he made in Monaco was beautiful.
"Playing that midfield role, he's able to connect to the close ones, to the farther ones and I really like the way he plays: his understanding of the game, he's involved in the game, taking the small decisions but ticking in all of the moments and I think that's the job of a midfielder."
What's next?
Liverpool will next play against Borussia Dortmund in a pre-season game in mid July.
