"I said it I think in pre-season" - Virgil van Dijk lauds Fabio Carvalho

Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk has praised teammate Fabio Carvalho.

The club signed the attacker from Fulham for a transfer fee of £5.31 million earlier this summer.

Carvalho scored his first goal for the Reds against Bournemouth at Anfield last weekend.

The 19-year-old also registered a WhoScored player rating of 8.28 for his 90-minute performance against the Cherries.

Van Dijk waxed lyrical about Carvalho post-game.

"I said it I think in pre-season, obviously I didn’t know him before, but I think he can be really, really good for us and as a club as well," he told the Liverpool Echo, as quoted by AW's Twitter account.

“You need maturity at times, especially when things aren’t going well like the last couple of weeks. These guys (younger players) have the right mentality that we need. They showed it today, I think they showed it against (Manchester) United also.

“Harvey (Elliott) was good in my opinion. Fabio came on and played very well too. They will have good moments and they will also have moments they have to learn from. That’s how football works. We’re not robots, we’re not perfect and everyone expecting that we are.”

Anfield Watch Verdict

Carvalho is a promising young player. The attacker looks to make things happen out on the football pitch.

The exciting thing about Carvalho is that he is far from the finished product. Who knows how good the 19-year-old could be.

We look forward to seeing Carvalho develop under one of the best managers in the world - Jurgen Klopp.

But, we don't want to put too much pressure on the youngster. The reality is, Carvalho is still a kid trying to make his way.

Hopefully the forward has a strong 2022-23 campaign.