Fabio Carvalho has undergone surgery for an injury that could mean his season is over. He has made just eight starts for the West London side since moving there from Liverpool last summer.
Thomas Frank’s side paid around $35.6m (£27.5m/€32.8m) for Carvalho but he has only started three times in the Premier League to date. Carvalho was missing as Brentford lost against Aston Villa over the weekend and afterward, head coach Frank confirmed: “Unfortunately, Fabio has dislocated his shoulder. He had surgery on Wednesday.”
In November, his father, Victor, told him “you have to leave this club” after he was left out against Everton. Since that game, Carvalho has played only 161 minutes in the league and now looks to be out for the remainder of the season.
Liverpool signed Carvalho from Fulham when the Cottagers were in the Championship but he didn’t nail down a spot at Anfield. He has struggled on loan at RB Leipzig but did well enough with Hull City in the second half of last season.
Sepp van den Berg also moved to Brentford from Liverpool last summer. Things have gone better for him (he has made 20 starts before picking up a knee injury) but he spoke recently about the move.
The Dutch center-back confessed he’d leap at the opportunity to return to Liverpool, reflecting on whether he should have remained at Anfield last summer. “I had a few conversations with Slot,” he told Voetbal Primeur.
“But before the pre-season started, I already indicated to the club that I wanted to leave and play minutes. After the pre-season, Liverpool indicated that I had done so well that they wanted me to stay. But I did not really see that happening myself. It was all my choice, I am happy that I now play in the Premier League every week.
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“I would be lying if I said that I did not dream of returning to Liverpool one day. That is still on my mind. But for now, it was better for my career to take a different path and play a lot. That is what I am doing now and that allows me to develop as well as possible.
“I would be lying if I said that I didn’t look at that (Liverpool’s defensive injuries) myself. That’s football, you don’t know. I did well in the pre-season and I really saw myself playing for the club, but not with the credit that I now have at Brentford.
“I am now a starter who always plays as long as he is fit. At Liverpool I would have been more of a player who had to fill gaps. I would rather be that starter. And who knows, if I do well here for two or three years, I will return to Liverpool and be a starter there too.”
Liverpool.com says: Carvalho needs to nail down a position first. Is he a midfielder or a forward? He probably isn’t quick enough to be a winger in the Premier League. There is hope, though. It took Mikkel Damsgaard a while to settle but he has been much better this season. Carvalho definitely has the talent.
