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Today, a reporter claimed Liverpool will sell Fabinho to Madrid. It’s not worth getting worked up over.
The transfer window has a little more than 48 hours to run in England, and we were always bound to get some entertaining silliness out of the end of it—and it doesn’t get much sillier than a mad scramble to get not one but major two deals done before the close.
It starts with a journalist in Colombia—which, as will become important in short order, is not Spain or England or Brazil—claiming an exclusive transfer shocker. And that shocker is that Liverpool and Real Madrid have agreed a deal: Los Blancos will sign Fabinho.
The fee is said to have been agreed, a base €65M plus €10M in add-ons. The player is said to have agreed a pay package of €7.5M a season. The deal, then, is done pending a medical and official announcement. And also for Liverpool to bring in a replacement.
That last part is important. That last part, in case you weren’t already rolling your eyes at the idea that Fabinho to Madrid is a totally done deal, is an out. A chance to walk away cleanly from this rumour—this exclusive transfer shocker—when it doesn’t happen.
Because it won’t, this exclusive transfer shocker, which Liverpool have made clear now to connected journalists. A deal hasn’t been agreed, Fabinho isn’t leaving, and the club aren’t unveiling a big money pre-emptive replacement for him in the next 48 hours.
This transfer rumour is bullshit. And it always looked bullshit. Not that that will stop the reporter who started it from claiming otherwise—they’ll just point to Liverpool not signing a replacement over the next 48 hours when it doesn’t happen.
