Liverpool manager Arne Slot confirms that Fabio Carvalho was not involved in Sunday’s friendlies with Sevilla or Las Palmas due to his impending move to Brentford.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot has revealed that he has been made aware of an “agreement” to sell Fabio Carvalho to Premier League rivals Brentford.
The Portugal Under-21 international was one of the stars of the Reds’ pre-season tour of the USA with goals against Manchester United and Arsenal following a successful loan spell at Hull City.
Carvalho was a prominent figure in Liverpool’s transatlantic trip thanks to the absences of Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz through Euro 2024 and Copa America commitments, and his displays drew high praise from Slot.
Liverpool apparently turned down a £15m offer from Southampton for the former Fulham protege, but a £27.5m offer from Brentford – with the addition of a 17.5% sell-on clause – proved too good to reject.
As Carvalho prepares to complete his switch to the Gtech Community Stadium, he was nowhere to be seen as Liverpool rounded off pre-season with a pair of friendlies against Sevilla and Las Palmas at Anfield.
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Slot almost confirms imminent Carvalho exit
Speaking to reporters in his post-game press conference, Slot confirmed that he had been informed of an agreement, hence his decision not to select Carvalho, but he has not had it confirmed to him by the club.
“From what’s been told to me, there is an agreement in place, but I haven’t spoken with our club. I was fully focused today on this game, so I don’t know exactly what the status of him is, but that was, of course, the reason why he wasn’t selected today,” Slot said.
While the Dutchman admitted that he had not been told by Liverpool that Carvalho was leaving, the Reds coincidentally made a firm transfer statement on their website, saying: “The forward was not included in the squads for the Anfield fixtures with Sevilla and Las Palmas after the Reds reached an agreement with another club for his transfer.”
Carvalho is expected to complete his switch to Brentford on Monday and will leave Liverpool with just three goals from 21 competitive appearances, all of which came in his debut campaign in 2022-23.
Liverpool signed the 21-year-old from Fulham for just £5m and will therefore make a significant profit through his sale, while Fulham are also due to bank 20% of any profit above that price thanks to a sell-on clause.
Slot: ‘Liverpool are always looking to strengthen’
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A Carvalho-less Reds side made light work of Sevilla in the day’s first friendly, smashing the Spanish giants 4-1 in front of a packed crowd thanks to goals from Diaz (two), Jota and teenage star Trey Nyoni.
Anfield then closed its doors for a second exhibition match with Las Palmas, which ended goalless, and Slot was asked about the possibility of new arrivals in the coming weeks amid links with Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi.
“I think as a club like we are, we are always looking if we can strengthen the squad. But it’s not so easy to strengthen the squad if you see both games today,” the former Feyenoord boss said.
“I’ve said many times before that I’ve inherited a really strong team and if we can and if we think it’s possible, we will strengthen the squad. But only if we think we can and if it’s possible.”
Liverpool have five days of rest and recuperation ahead before their opening Premier League game of 2024-25, which takes place at Ipswich Town’s Portman Road on Saturday lunchtime.