"Star quality" - Club founder waxes lyrical about Fabio Carvalho

Balham FC founder Greg Cruttwell has waxed lyrical about Liverpool attacker Fabio Carvalho. 

The Reds signed the 19-year-old from Fulham for a transfer fee of £5.31 million back in May.

Therefore, Carvalho is yet to play for Liverpool. However, Cruttwell has revealed that the Anfield faithful will enjoy watching the U21 Portugal international.

“There was an aura about him (when Cruttwell first saw Carvalho), he had star quality,” he told BBC Sport.

“The first ball he played was like a five-iron hitting the middle of the fairway. He had great technique, superb balance and he was so quick. A natural number 10.

“At the end of that session, I said to his mum, who hardly spoke any English, ‘please bring him to another training session, he’s amazing’. He kept coming and we signed him. Eventually.”

Anfield Watch Verdict

Carvalho is a promising young talent. The attacking midfielder scored 11 goals and registered eight assists in 38 appearances for Fulham's first-team last season.

Carvalho also averaged a WhoScored player rating of 7.12 across the 2021-22 Championship campaign.

The aforementioned figures highlight the 19-year-old is well beyond his years as a player.

It will be interesting to see how much game time Carvalho gets next season. The reality is, there are a number of players ahead of him in the pecking order.

But, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp does have a track record of developing footballers. So, we would not be surprised if Carvalho was given some game time next season.

The 2022-23 Premier League campaign will kick-off in early August. Liverpool's first game of the season is against Fulham at Craven Cottage.

We would love to see Carvalho feature against his former club. He will be motivated to do well.